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CNN Saturday Morning News
Minnesotans Mourn Loss of Wellstone
Aired October 26, 2002 - 07:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In northern Minnesota, federal aviation investigators are at the scene of a plane crash that killed Senator Paul Wellstone, seven others. All aboard were killed, including Wellstone's wife, his daughter, three staff members, and the two pilots.
Senator Wellstone was considered a key player in Democratic control of the Senate.
CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl live in the Minnesota capital, and Trish Volpe of CNN affiliate KDLH on the scene in Eveleth, Minnesota.
And we begin with Trish.
TRISH VOLPE, KDLH/EVELETH, MINNESOTA: Miles, the National Transportation Safety Board spent several hours at the scene of the crash last night. They are expected to return there again very early this morning, and they should brief us on the latest a little later on this afternoon.
What they are looking for, first and foremost, is the cockpit voice recorder. And even though this was a small, corporate-type jet, NTSB officials say there was indeed a voice recorder. They're hoping that the voice on that tape will help them determine what happened in the moments before the crash. That could certainly help shed some light on what happened.
We are expecting, as I said, another NTSB briefing later on today. But here's what we do know. Senator Wellstone, his wife and daughter were en route form St. Paul to Eveleth on their way to a funeral. Local authorities say the plane was on its final approach into the airport before it crashed.
The wreckage was found in a wooded area, very difficult for emergency crews to get there. But again, the National Transportation Safety Board will be there on the scene again this morning, looking for clues. Their onsite investigation is expected to last several days. But to determine the actual cause of the crash, that could take several months.
Miles?
O'BRIEN: Trish, what are witnesses saying? Were there many witnesses? Did people hear anything? They were obviously in the clouds, so people might not have seen much. But did they hear anything? VOLPE: So far no witnesses have come forward that I know of who may have actually seen the crash happen. We did speak to the assistant director of the airport, the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, yesterday, who was the first responder on the scene. And he had heard that the pilot called in to the Duluth tower, that would be the Duluth airport tower, and they reported no problems at all with the plane.
But then they never landed. So this man, the assistant director from the airport, went up in the air to search for the plane, and he was the first person to find the wreckage.
O'BRIEN: Trish Volpe, thank you very much. We'll check in with you a little bit later, and we'll check in on that news conference as it happens.
Let's turn it now to the political aspects of this. Jonathan Karl joining us from the capital of Minnesota.
Are you in St. Paul this morning, Jonathan?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles, I am, I'm right outside of Wellstone campaign headquarters...
O'BRIEN: OK.
KARL: ... and you can see out here they've got a spontaneous vigil that, you know, a memorial that has started to spring up here for Wellstone.
This was, as you talk about the political implications, this was really kind of a ground zero for political control of the United States Senate, the state of Minnesota, one of the toughest, the tightest, the most hotly contested Senate races in the country.
But right now, Minnesotans are trying to deal with a sense of grief, a sense of loss. Last night on the steps of the state capitol in St. Paul, you saw a candlelight vigil spontaneously come together. There were a couple of thousand people that came, you know, Democrats as well as Republicans and independents, coming to remember Paul Wellstone, really an amazing scene as people sang songs and lit candles.
And there on the grounds of the state capitol, they brought in this beat-up old bus that Wellstone had used as kind of his political signature. It was the bus that he used when he first campaigned for the United States Senate back in 1990.
Back then, he was just a professor of political science at Carlton College. He was a guy that was seen as having virtually no chance of winning, of beating an incumbent United States senator, but he did. In one of the real great political upsets of my lifetime, he won that race.
And Wellstone went to the United States Senate. "Mother Jones" magazine, the liberal magazine, called him the first 1960s radical ever elected to the United States Senate. And he was there as really if not the most liberal voice in the United States Senate, certainly one of the most liberal voices, and somebody who was seen as somebody who would stand up for his principles even when that cost him politically.
And as such, he always faced tough political races back here, including this race this year in Minnesota.
But inevitably, Miles, the question now is, the election is 10 days away. We do have this 50-49 Senate now. This race is going to be extremely important. And even as Democrats deal with the sense of loss of what's happened to Senator Wellstone, they're wondering what happens next.
And Democrats here in Minnesota as well as national Democrats in Washington, are saying that they want to see Walter Mondale, the former vice president of the United States, also a former senator from Minnesota, step in to take Wellstone's place on the ballot. No word on whether or not Mondale will take that offer, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Walk us through, Jonathan, as we talk about that, the possibility of Mondale coming in, walk us though the rules and the process as it lies ahead, if you could.
KARL: Well, the Democrats have until Friday at 4:00 p.m. to decide who they would put in to take his place. They have almost a week to do this. But what happens now is that Wellstone's name will be stricken from the ballot, so there is not the option of what happened, if you remember, just two years ago when Mel Carnhahan, who was running for Senate in Missouri, died in plane crash, almost exactly at the same time, right two weeks before the election.
His name remained on the ballot, and he was elected, and then the governor appointed his widow to take his place in Missouri. That cannot happen in Minnesota. Wellstone's name will be off the ballot, and the Democratic Party will have the chance to appoint a -- somebody to take his place. But they've got to do it by Friday at 4:00.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jonathan Karl outside the Wellstone campaign headquarters, where that vigil is evident. Thank you very much. We'll check in with you later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 26, 2002 - 07:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In northern Minnesota, federal aviation investigators are at the scene of a plane crash that killed Senator Paul Wellstone, seven others. All aboard were killed, including Wellstone's wife, his daughter, three staff members, and the two pilots.
Senator Wellstone was considered a key player in Democratic control of the Senate.
CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl live in the Minnesota capital, and Trish Volpe of CNN affiliate KDLH on the scene in Eveleth, Minnesota.
And we begin with Trish.
TRISH VOLPE, KDLH/EVELETH, MINNESOTA: Miles, the National Transportation Safety Board spent several hours at the scene of the crash last night. They are expected to return there again very early this morning, and they should brief us on the latest a little later on this afternoon.
What they are looking for, first and foremost, is the cockpit voice recorder. And even though this was a small, corporate-type jet, NTSB officials say there was indeed a voice recorder. They're hoping that the voice on that tape will help them determine what happened in the moments before the crash. That could certainly help shed some light on what happened.
We are expecting, as I said, another NTSB briefing later on today. But here's what we do know. Senator Wellstone, his wife and daughter were en route form St. Paul to Eveleth on their way to a funeral. Local authorities say the plane was on its final approach into the airport before it crashed.
The wreckage was found in a wooded area, very difficult for emergency crews to get there. But again, the National Transportation Safety Board will be there on the scene again this morning, looking for clues. Their onsite investigation is expected to last several days. But to determine the actual cause of the crash, that could take several months.
Miles?
O'BRIEN: Trish, what are witnesses saying? Were there many witnesses? Did people hear anything? They were obviously in the clouds, so people might not have seen much. But did they hear anything? VOLPE: So far no witnesses have come forward that I know of who may have actually seen the crash happen. We did speak to the assistant director of the airport, the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, yesterday, who was the first responder on the scene. And he had heard that the pilot called in to the Duluth tower, that would be the Duluth airport tower, and they reported no problems at all with the plane.
But then they never landed. So this man, the assistant director from the airport, went up in the air to search for the plane, and he was the first person to find the wreckage.
O'BRIEN: Trish Volpe, thank you very much. We'll check in with you a little bit later, and we'll check in on that news conference as it happens.
Let's turn it now to the political aspects of this. Jonathan Karl joining us from the capital of Minnesota.
Are you in St. Paul this morning, Jonathan?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles, I am, I'm right outside of Wellstone campaign headquarters...
O'BRIEN: OK.
KARL: ... and you can see out here they've got a spontaneous vigil that, you know, a memorial that has started to spring up here for Wellstone.
This was, as you talk about the political implications, this was really kind of a ground zero for political control of the United States Senate, the state of Minnesota, one of the toughest, the tightest, the most hotly contested Senate races in the country.
But right now, Minnesotans are trying to deal with a sense of grief, a sense of loss. Last night on the steps of the state capitol in St. Paul, you saw a candlelight vigil spontaneously come together. There were a couple of thousand people that came, you know, Democrats as well as Republicans and independents, coming to remember Paul Wellstone, really an amazing scene as people sang songs and lit candles.
And there on the grounds of the state capitol, they brought in this beat-up old bus that Wellstone had used as kind of his political signature. It was the bus that he used when he first campaigned for the United States Senate back in 1990.
Back then, he was just a professor of political science at Carlton College. He was a guy that was seen as having virtually no chance of winning, of beating an incumbent United States senator, but he did. In one of the real great political upsets of my lifetime, he won that race.
And Wellstone went to the United States Senate. "Mother Jones" magazine, the liberal magazine, called him the first 1960s radical ever elected to the United States Senate. And he was there as really if not the most liberal voice in the United States Senate, certainly one of the most liberal voices, and somebody who was seen as somebody who would stand up for his principles even when that cost him politically.
And as such, he always faced tough political races back here, including this race this year in Minnesota.
But inevitably, Miles, the question now is, the election is 10 days away. We do have this 50-49 Senate now. This race is going to be extremely important. And even as Democrats deal with the sense of loss of what's happened to Senator Wellstone, they're wondering what happens next.
And Democrats here in Minnesota as well as national Democrats in Washington, are saying that they want to see Walter Mondale, the former vice president of the United States, also a former senator from Minnesota, step in to take Wellstone's place on the ballot. No word on whether or not Mondale will take that offer, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Walk us through, Jonathan, as we talk about that, the possibility of Mondale coming in, walk us though the rules and the process as it lies ahead, if you could.
KARL: Well, the Democrats have until Friday at 4:00 p.m. to decide who they would put in to take his place. They have almost a week to do this. But what happens now is that Wellstone's name will be stricken from the ballot, so there is not the option of what happened, if you remember, just two years ago when Mel Carnhahan, who was running for Senate in Missouri, died in plane crash, almost exactly at the same time, right two weeks before the election.
His name remained on the ballot, and he was elected, and then the governor appointed his widow to take his place in Missouri. That cannot happen in Minnesota. Wellstone's name will be off the ballot, and the Democratic Party will have the chance to appoint a -- somebody to take his place. But they've got to do it by Friday at 4:00.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jonathan Karl outside the Wellstone campaign headquarters, where that vigil is evident. Thank you very much. We'll check in with you later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
