The Wellstone Majority

"I am a Hubert Humphrey senator. I go to the floor of the Senate, and I fight for children, I fight for senior citizens, I fight for health care. I'm a Minnesota senator."

-Paul Wellstone

Paul Wellstone doesn't need my words. He never did. Even after his death Friday morning, my kind thoughts and comments in this column still won't be necessary.

What words can you give to someone who always said everything on his own, with or without support from others? How can I write about Wellstone, when he would have wanted me to write about someone who needed it more?

But alas, a tribute needs to be done. Something has to be written. I'm one of many today who will sit at a computer and hold their breath while typing, because they know that no matter what they write, it doesn't stand a chance of capturing the essence of a man like Wellstone.

But here I go. Hold your breath along with me.

Wellstone was our prizefighter. He was our champion. No matter how many times he got knocked down, he bounced right back for more. There were no TKO's in Wellstone's style of politics. The bell might ring, and the match might be over, but he'd still be swinging regardless.

He fought for the young, the old, the poor and the voiceless. In times when he was pinned to the wall by an overwhelming majority- like during the Senate's recent support of the war against Iraq- he bared his teeth, stood a little taller, talker a little louder and made the minority he was representing look and feel like a majority.

And while Wellstone may have been known as a fighter for the minority, those of us who looked deep into each of his causes knew he was fighting because there were others out there who couldn't or wouldn't speak about it. He knew the so-called minority was, in fact, a silent majority. He just needed to get people motivated, and convince them to work together. And motivate he did.

The spirit and drive he showed in Senate was rekindled Saturday by the thousands in Minnesota and other areas of the country who marched in protest of the possible war in Iraq.

Such determination has to make you wonder if the majority of America was really represented when the Senate gave the president full authority to bomb Iraq. Think about all the protestors who filled the streets in Minnesota on Saturday. Then think about all the other protesters who were in Washington D.C. and other areas around the country. Have we ever seen this much opposition to a United States military act? Not since Vietnam, we haven't.

And therein lies the key to Wellstone and his motives. He didn't see a minority opposing the war, he saw a voiceless majority that wasn't being recognized by the blind dolts in Senate. He saw an overwhelming amount of people that were seen as a minority, simply because they didn't have a way to be heard amid all the blind patriotism. So when he fought for them, and gave them a voice, the opposition wondered out loud who the heck he was fighting for.

Well, the people he was fighting for were the people who voted for him every time his term in Senate was up. And that unseen, unheard majority will become visible again a week from tomorrow, when they vote Wellstone's replacement into office.

Many will blow it off as a "sympathy vote" win. But we in the Wellstone majority will know the real truth: that the votes were made in hope of another fighter, another tireless worker; another person who can support the real voice of the masses.

No one knows who will take Wellstone's place on the November 5 ballot. But whoever it is, the state of Minnesota can rest assured that they'll have the toughest job in Senate. The high expectations of us, the Wellstone majority, will certainly make sure of that.