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CNN Saturday Morning News

Remembering the Legacy of Paul Wellstone

Aired October 26, 2002 - 09:26   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.


CAROL COSTELLO: Let's talk more now about the legacy of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone.
Joining us with his insights is our senior political analyst Bill Schneider, who is live in Washington.

And Bill, how will Senator Wellstone be remembered, do you think?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, Carol, I'd say he was the voice of the 1960s left. "Mother Jones" magazine described him as the first '60s radical that got elected to the United States Senate.

He was uncompromising, unyielding, staunchly liberal, a man of great principle. Whereas other figures did come out of the '60s left -- even bill Clinton was an antiwar protester and a civil rights advocate, Clinton, to get things done, would often trim and compromise. Wellstone did not.

He did not vote for the Gulf War just this month, he did not vote to authorize the president to use force in Iraq. He didn't vote for Clinton's welfare reform bill in 1996. And in fact, his opponents, Wellstone's opponents, called him Senator Welfare.

But he answered in an interesting way. He said defiantly, "I am a Hubert Humphrey senator. I go to the floor of the Senate, I fight for children, for senior citizens, for health care. I am a Minnesota senator."

A proud legacy.

COSTELLO: Yes, he definitely he fought for the little guy.

I wanted to ask you this. He was so passionate and so fiery and so colorful. It seems most candidates that come down the pike nowadays are rather bland. Will we ever see his like again?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, there are candidates on both the right and the left who will take these kinds of stands. In a way, it often limits their careers. You remember, Clinton would compromise, but he became president. Wellstone, he was thinking in 1998 of running for president, and he might have been -- attracted a colorful following, might have done actually reasonably well, but no one expected him to a great deal further.

I think you will continue to see these people as long as there are issues, as long as there is populism in American politics.

COSTELLO: Gotcha.

Can you think of a piece of legislation that he pushed through that we will remember him for?

SCHNEIDER: Piece of legislation? Well, he -- I know he worked with Sam Brownback in the Senate for legislation that would have limited -- that would have restricted the sex trade among people from Eastern Europe. He was very active in that. He was also very active in mental health causes, in agricultural issues in Minnesota. A lot of issues he made his mark on.

COSTELLO: The candidates that the Democrats are thinking of putting on the ballot to replace Senator Wellstone's name, are any of them of a like mind?

SCHNEIDER: Well, many of them are on the left. Minnesota has a very left Democratic Party. The number one candidate that they're trying to persuade to take the position, take this slot as a candidate is Walter Mondale, a name from the past, a former senator from Minnesota, then became vice president, then became Bill Clinton's ambassador to Japan.

He's 75 years old, not quite as old as Frank Lautenberg, who took Torricelli's place in New Jersey on the ballot. But I think the labor movement is trying to convince Mondale to take the position on the ballot to replace Wellstone, and the argument is very simple. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

COSTELLO: You got that right, and I guess Walter Mondale was quite competitive politically, at least.

But let's talk about if his name is put on the ballot, this is a tight race anyway. Had Senator Wellstone survived the plane crash, I mean, the race was still neck and neck. How much of a chance does Walter Mondale have in winning?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it's hard to say at this point, but I would point out that typically in a tragedy of this nature, there's a big sympathy vote. It happened when Mel Carnahan from Missouri died two -- yes, two years ago and was still on the ballot. He won the election because of a wave of sympathy. In this case, you could see the same thing happening in Minnesota. There'll be a funeral next week. There are vigils all over the state of Minnesota.

And even if Mondale's name is -- replaces Wellstone's on the ballot, you could see a sympathy vote to uphold that Democratic tradition. That's been known to happen all over the country.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you very much, Bill Schneider, for your insight. We appreciate it.

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 - 09:26   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO: Let's talk more now about the legacy of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone.
Joining us with his insights is our senior political analyst Bill Schneider, who is live in Washington.

And Bill, how will Senator Wellstone be remembered, do you think?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, Carol, I'd say he was the voice of the 1960s left. "Mother Jones" magazine described him as the first '60s radical that got elected to the United States Senate.

He was uncompromising, unyielding, staunchly liberal, a man of great principle. Whereas other figures did come out of the '60s left -- even bill Clinton was an antiwar protester and a civil rights advocate, Clinton, to get things done, would often trim and compromise. Wellstone did not.

He did not vote for the Gulf War just this month, he did not vote to authorize the president to use force in Iraq. He didn't vote for Clinton's welfare reform bill in 1996. And in fact, his opponents, Wellstone's opponents, called him Senator Welfare.

But he answered in an interesting way. He said defiantly, "I am a Hubert Humphrey senator. I go to the floor of the Senate, I fight for children, for senior citizens, for health care. I am a Minnesota senator."

A proud legacy.

COSTELLO: Yes, he definitely he fought for the little guy.

I wanted to ask you this. He was so passionate and so fiery and so colorful. It seems most candidates that come down the pike nowadays are rather bland. Will we ever see his like again?

SCHNEIDER: Oh, there are candidates on both the right and the left who will take these kinds of stands. In a way, it often limits their careers. You remember, Clinton would compromise, but he became president. Wellstone, he was thinking in 1998 of running for president, and he might have been -- attracted a colorful following, might have done actually reasonably well, but no one expected him to a great deal further.

I think you will continue to see these people as long as there are issues, as long as there is populism in American politics.

COSTELLO: Gotcha.

Can you think of a piece of legislation that he pushed through that we will remember him for?

SCHNEIDER: Piece of legislation? Well, he -- I know he worked with Sam Brownback in the Senate for legislation that would have limited -- that would have restricted the sex trade among people from Eastern Europe. He was very active in that. He was also very active in mental health causes, in agricultural issues in Minnesota. A lot of issues he made his mark on.

COSTELLO: The candidates that the Democrats are thinking of putting on the ballot to replace Senator Wellstone's name, are any of them of a like mind?

SCHNEIDER: Well, many of them are on the left. Minnesota has a very left Democratic Party. The number one candidate that they're trying to persuade to take the position, take this slot as a candidate is Walter Mondale, a name from the past, a former senator from Minnesota, then became vice president, then became Bill Clinton's ambassador to Japan.

He's 75 years old, not quite as old as Frank Lautenberg, who took Torricelli's place in New Jersey on the ballot. But I think the labor movement is trying to convince Mondale to take the position on the ballot to replace Wellstone, and the argument is very simple. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

COSTELLO: You got that right, and I guess Walter Mondale was quite competitive politically, at least.

But let's talk about if his name is put on the ballot, this is a tight race anyway. Had Senator Wellstone survived the plane crash, I mean, the race was still neck and neck. How much of a chance does Walter Mondale have in winning?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it's hard to say at this point, but I would point out that typically in a tragedy of this nature, there's a big sympathy vote. It happened when Mel Carnahan from Missouri died two -- yes, two years ago and was still on the ballot. He won the election because of a wave of sympathy. In this case, you could see the same thing happening in Minnesota. There'll be a funeral next week. There are vigils all over the state of Minnesota.

And even if Mondale's name is -- replaces Wellstone's on the ballot, you could see a sympathy vote to uphold that Democratic tradition. That's been known to happen all over the country.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you very much, Bill Schneider, for your insight. We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com