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Thousands pay tribute to Sen. Wellstone
By John Mercurio
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Election Day is just a week away, but all political eyes (and many top political bodies) will be focused today on a distinctly unpolitical event -- the memorial service of Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone and his wife and daughter, who died Friday morning in a plane crash. Not that politics has ceased altogether, of course. Bill Clinton will leave the Wellstone memorial for a two-day trip to stump for Hawaii's demoralized Democratic candidates. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, travels to Florida today to campaign with resurgent Gov. Jeb Bush, who are bound by the inevitable alliance of campaign aides. And, of course, politics will return to Minnesota in force Wednesday, when the state Democratic central committee will announce their selection of former Vice President Walter Mondale as Wellstone's replacement on the November 5 ballot.
October 29
•Thousands of people are expected to attend a memorial service today for Sen. Paul Wellstone, his wife and daughter and four others at 6:30 p.m. at Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota. The service is being described as a celebration of the lives of Senator and Sheila Wellstone, Marcia Wellstone Markuson, Tom Lapic, Mary McEvoy, and Will McLaughlin, who died in a plane crash October 25. Scheduled to attend the service, among others, are former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Vice President and ex-Sen. Walter Mondale, Gov. Jesse Ventura, ex-Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, and Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minnesota. •Following the Wellstone memorial service, Bill Clinton starts a two-day trip to Hawaii, where he'll participate in several union-sponsored events for the state's dominant, but beleaguered Democratic Party. Clinton will appear with gubernatorial nominee Mazie Hirono, who's trailing Republican Linda Lingle by narrowing margins in recent polls. • Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, is campaigning in Gainesville, Florida for Rep. Karen Thurman, D-Florida, who faces a tough race against GOP challenger, state Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite. The rest of the week Edwards will be in North Carolina doing "whatever [Democratic Senate nominee] Erskine Bowles wants him to do." •In New Hampshire, Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, and GOP Rep. John Sununu in will participate in a forum hosted by six local Chambers of Commerce.
•A new non-profit group, Social Security Choice.Org, will launch its latest TV ad today touting candidates who support individual retirement accounts. This spot will run in Georgia in favor of GOP Rep. Saxby Chambliss, who's challenging Sen. Max Cleland, a Democrat. On Monday, the group aired spots on behalf of Steve Pearce and Rep. Pat Toomey, Republicans in tight House races in New Mexico and Pennsylvania. The group, which is launching a $500,000 ad campaign to promote the accounts, is funded by Americans for Tax Reform, Citizens for a Sound Economy, National Taxpayers Union and 60 Plus. •Sen. Mary Landrieu and her three GOP rivals hold their fourth debate, this one in New Orleans. Polls show Landrieu running well ahead of the three Republicans, state elections commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell, state Rep. Tony Perkins and Rep. John Cooksey. But Landrieu's support falls below 50 percent, meaning she will likely proceed to a runoff with one of the GOP candidates (probably Terrell, who has been endorsed by the NRSC). Stay tuned.
•House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, goes to Stockton to campaign for state Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, who knocked off Democratic Rep. Gary Condit but is now locked in a tight race with state Sen. Dick Monteith. •In New Jersey, GOP Senate nominee Doug Forrester, a wealthy businessman, holds a morning presser on health care issues in Hackensack. •Republican Senate nominee Lamar Alexander of Tennessee will campaign in Montgomery County on Tuesday with his GOP primary rival, Rep. Ed Bryant. Campaign stops will include visits to Smithfield Manufacturing, the Downtown Kiwanis Club and a reception at McGregor Park. Alexander is leading Democratic Congressman Bob Clement by single digits. For his part, Clement will campaign today with Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. at Guthrie Elementary School in Memphis.
•House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Missouri, will travel to West Virginia and Kentucky to campaign for House Democratic challengers. Gephardt will attend a get-out-the-vote rally in at the United Auto Workers hall in Louisville with Democrat Jack Conway, who's locked in a tight race with Rep. Anne Northup, a Republican. The minority leader will also campaign for attorney Jim Humphreys, who is running in a rematch with Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia's 2nd district. Rep. Allan Mollohan, D-West Virginia, also will be on hand. President Bush is coming back to Louisville, Kentucky to stump for Northup on Friday. •Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, will headline a $500-a-head luncheon at the Wichita Home Builders Association in Wichita for Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kansas. •Florida's Gov. Jeb Bush will be with Arizona Sen. John McCain and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi at a veterans rally in St. Petersburg today. Later in the day, Bush will travel to Port Charlotte to meet with members of the American Legion.
•Pennsylvania's gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Ed Rendell and Republican Mike Fisher, debate again, this time sponsored by the local NAACP, the League of Women Voters and the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. The hour-long forum will be held at the WPVI-TV studios and televised on the station. •An AOL Live Chat on Freedom's Answer with Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. Freedom's Answer is the first political activity to be recognized for credit toward the President's Student Service Award (started in 1992 for 100 hours of volunteer work by high-schoolers). •In Colorado, Democratic Senate nominee Tom Strickland will visit four more communities in his bus tour. Strickland will stop in Pueblo, Canon City, Salida, and Gunnison Tuesday. Other Democrats will join Strickland, including state Rep. Abel Tapia, Dan Slater, John Salazar, and Emily Tracy. Strickland will talk about his proposals for reviving the state's economy and the importance of bringing new jobs to Colorado. Strickland was locked in a tight race with Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, a first-term Republican. •In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, will be in Houston to speak at the Greater Heights Chamber of Commerce Forum and recognize the Houston I.S.D. for receiving the Broad Prize for Urban Education, an annual, $1 million award created by the Broad Foundation to honor urban school districts making the greatest overall improvement in student achievement. •White House political guru Karl Rove headlines a $1,000-a-PAC reception on Capitol Hill for ex-Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, R-Maryland. Bentley is locked in a tight race with Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger.
•President Bush will sign the election-reform legislation Congress approved earlier this month. •Sen. Jean Carnahan, D-Missouri, and her family are continuing their five-day, 54-stop bus tour of Missouri. Carnahan is locked in a tight race with Republican Jim Talent, a former congressman --Tory Stagnaro, Kathy Benz and Robert Yoon contributed to this report.
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