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CNN Live Sunday
Wellstone Family Asks Mondale to Step Into Senate Race
Aired October 27, 2002 - 17:22 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Amid the grief and shock over Senator Paul Wellstone's death, there is concern over political matters, like naming a replacement to complete his term and finding a new Democrat for the November election. CNN's Judy Woodruff is in St. Paul, Minnesota, with more on the candidate Wellstone's son has asked to take his place -- hello, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Heidi. You're right about, first of all, the shock this state has been left in. You look behind me and you can see the people who have been coming here all weekend, all day Saturday, and especially today, Sunday, to pay their respects, to leave flowers and notes. So Minnesotans are in shock.
The politics of this state, the political community has been turned into a complete turmoil situation because this was the man who they thought was going to, in their best hope, get reelected to the Senate. Instead, with nine days left before the election, they don't have a candidate. They have focused on former Vice President Walter Mondale, a Minnesota native.
We can tell you about two developments, one you just referred to. Paul Wellstone's older son, David, went to see Walter Mondale yesterday morning and told him that he is the personal choice of the family. They want him to step him in to be the Democratic candidate. The second development is the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party will hold a statewide convention Wednesday night to ratify a choice. And the assumption is it will be Mondale, although he has not said yet that he'll do it.
Now, all of this activity has led the Republican candidate for the Senate, Norm Coleman, to come out and talk to the press today. Here's one of the comments that he made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORM COLEMAN, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: I think some of us, and certainly for the people of Minnesota, we still need a little time. We need some time to grieve and to mourn and to reflect on those who lost their lives. And there will be a vigorous campaign. But I think it's going to be on hold for still a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: That one reference to a vigorous campaign was just enough to cause the Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, who happened to be here in St. Paul this weekend, to tell the press when he visited Wellstone headquarters earlier today to talk to the press about the kind of campaign that he says Coleman had run before Wellstone's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, I was very disappointed with the very negative tone that Mr. Coleman took in this race. Far more negative than it had to be. That wasn't Paul Wellstone's style. And so I'm not surprised that Paul didn't choose to use that approach. I'm sure, if that's his characterization of the coming days, I just hope that while it's vigorous, he can refrain from being as negative as he has been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: So you see, at the same time the mourning goes on, tomorrow there will be a funeral for one of the Wellstone staffers killed in the plane crash with Senator Wellstone. At the same time the mourning goes on, the campaign is very much getting geared up. The Coleman people have already started to cut new television ads. And the Wellstone people are already trying to turn the grief for Paul Wellstone into support for whoever the replacement candidate will be, presumably Walter Mondale. Although as we said, he's not saying yet -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Judy, let me quickly ask you, we're hearing, of course, that this is the choice of the Wellstone family for Walter Mondale to be put on the ballot. Is that something that's going to be really important to the Democrats in choosing who would go on the ballot?
WOODRUFF: We are told by the people, both Democratic part -- it's called the Democratic Farmer Labor Party here in Minnesota -- and we're told by people in the Wellstone campaign that if the choice is Walter Mondale and the fact that he's the first choice of the Wellstone family is important, because Mondale was one of the founders of the DFL party. Paul Wellstone came out of the DFL party himself. And just the sentimental choice of the family, when you couple it with the history, the political history of the state, they say will carry great weight with those delegates who show up at that statewide convention on Wednesday night.
COLLINS: All right. Judy Woodruff in St. Paul, Minnesota today, thanks.
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 27, 2002 - 17:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Amid the grief and shock over Senator Paul Wellstone's death, there is concern over political matters, like naming a replacement to complete his term and finding a new Democrat for the November election. CNN's Judy Woodruff is in St. Paul, Minnesota, with more on the candidate Wellstone's son has asked to take his place -- hello, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Heidi. You're right about, first of all, the shock this state has been left in. You look behind me and you can see the people who have been coming here all weekend, all day Saturday, and especially today, Sunday, to pay their respects, to leave flowers and notes. So Minnesotans are in shock.
The politics of this state, the political community has been turned into a complete turmoil situation because this was the man who they thought was going to, in their best hope, get reelected to the Senate. Instead, with nine days left before the election, they don't have a candidate. They have focused on former Vice President Walter Mondale, a Minnesota native.
We can tell you about two developments, one you just referred to. Paul Wellstone's older son, David, went to see Walter Mondale yesterday morning and told him that he is the personal choice of the family. They want him to step him in to be the Democratic candidate. The second development is the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party will hold a statewide convention Wednesday night to ratify a choice. And the assumption is it will be Mondale, although he has not said yet that he'll do it.
Now, all of this activity has led the Republican candidate for the Senate, Norm Coleman, to come out and talk to the press today. Here's one of the comments that he made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORM COLEMAN, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: I think some of us, and certainly for the people of Minnesota, we still need a little time. We need some time to grieve and to mourn and to reflect on those who lost their lives. And there will be a vigorous campaign. But I think it's going to be on hold for still a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: That one reference to a vigorous campaign was just enough to cause the Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, who happened to be here in St. Paul this weekend, to tell the press when he visited Wellstone headquarters earlier today to talk to the press about the kind of campaign that he says Coleman had run before Wellstone's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, I was very disappointed with the very negative tone that Mr. Coleman took in this race. Far more negative than it had to be. That wasn't Paul Wellstone's style. And so I'm not surprised that Paul didn't choose to use that approach. I'm sure, if that's his characterization of the coming days, I just hope that while it's vigorous, he can refrain from being as negative as he has been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: So you see, at the same time the mourning goes on, tomorrow there will be a funeral for one of the Wellstone staffers killed in the plane crash with Senator Wellstone. At the same time the mourning goes on, the campaign is very much getting geared up. The Coleman people have already started to cut new television ads. And the Wellstone people are already trying to turn the grief for Paul Wellstone into support for whoever the replacement candidate will be, presumably Walter Mondale. Although as we said, he's not saying yet -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Judy, let me quickly ask you, we're hearing, of course, that this is the choice of the Wellstone family for Walter Mondale to be put on the ballot. Is that something that's going to be really important to the Democrats in choosing who would go on the ballot?
WOODRUFF: We are told by the people, both Democratic part -- it's called the Democratic Farmer Labor Party here in Minnesota -- and we're told by people in the Wellstone campaign that if the choice is Walter Mondale and the fact that he's the first choice of the Wellstone family is important, because Mondale was one of the founders of the DFL party. Paul Wellstone came out of the DFL party himself. And just the sentimental choice of the family, when you couple it with the history, the political history of the state, they say will carry great weight with those delegates who show up at that statewide convention on Wednesday night.
COLLINS: All right. Judy Woodruff in St. Paul, Minnesota today, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
