It has been 10 years since Senator Paul Wellstone suddenly passed away in that fateful airplane crash. His story still resonates for me and not just because of his politics.
When I graduated college in 2002, I really had no thought to doing anything political. I got a degree focused on advertising, but there really weren't any advertising jobs to be had. Since I was young and willing to go out on a limb for an opportunity, I took a political training job and ended up working on the campaign to elect Democrats in Iowa.
Now, when I left college, even with my many political science classes and my own personal book reading, I felt that I knew nothing about politics. In fact, when I agreed to go to Iowa, I really didn't even know who Senator Harkin or Governor Vilsack were. Aside from my own Senators and a few other notables, I really didn't know much about elected leaders.
However, I did know about Paul Wellstone.
For many people, Paul Wellstone is known for being against the Iraq War...twice. He is known for his strong work on labor rights, women's rights, gay rights, and a defense of those struggling to get by in the richest nation on the planet. I knew all that and I admired Senator Wellstone for those things, but that is not what made him an inspiration for me.
Paul Wellstone inspired me because while he publicly fought against corporate interests in Washington, he was living with Multiple Sclerosis.
My mother has MS and has had it for quite awhile. Her condition is not too severe, but it definitely affects her every day life, making things that are easy for others more of an exhausting challenge. Even so, as a teacher and a parent, neither job easy by the way, she never let her MS hold her back and never allowed herself to say no to something because of it.
So when I saw Paul Wellstone work hard to champion important causes, I saw my mother, and, just as importantly, I saw that he was championing people just like her. People who struggled to afford medicine and who needed healthcare. People who worked hard and never complained about their own lot in life, but through their own challenges wanted better for others. When I learned about Paul Wellstone, before I'd ever knocked a door, watched a poll, or registered someone to vote, I thought "that is what politics should be."
Even though I didn't get to work for Paul Wellstone, I did get to work for Senator Tom Harkin, and the two were kindred spirits in Washington. Even though, when Senator Harkin voted for the Authorization for Use of Force in 2002 and Senator Wellstone voted no, I knew that he, just like Paul, was championing people like my mother. It gave me hope that there were good people who knew what politics should be and could be.
Cynicism about politics is not new and certainly in 2002 there were many people who I knew that thought campaigning was not worth it. They saw people like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Rick Santorum and thought "they're all the same, why bother?" But I could always look at Wellstone, Harkin, and others and think "no, frustrating as the process may be, there are good people and they deserve our support because they are supporting us."
That hope inspired me as I knocked countless doors to talk to countless strangers. Thankfully people in Iowa are very nice! Then, that awful October day, with the election inching ever closer, my friend on the Iowa campaign message me to say that Paul Wellstone had died. I was on my way to a meeting with a UAW leader and I could not believe it. As I walked into his office, I suddenly burst into tears. There are family members whose deaths have not brought me to tears.
To paraphrase a mourner after FDR passed away, I never knew Paul Wellstone, but I felt that he knew me.
Hours later, I saw Senator Harkin, the man who I was passionately knocking doors for, collapse in anguish and tears. Not just wipe away a few tears, but literally collapse into his wife's arms. This wasn't just a coworker, this was a brother in arms. That hurt that Senator Harkin felt actually helped lift me up at that moment. If another Senator, especially the one I was helping, reacted so intensely to Paul's death, I knew that his tradition of fighting for people like my mother would continue. His death would not cut short his work.
When President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, I thought, Senator Wellstone should be there. This was what he worked for all those years. I was proud to see that Senator Harkin had helped lead the way and proud that, as I suspected that day, Senator Wellstone's work would not die with him.
Now when I hear Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan say that they would do away with "Obamacare," I don't think of what Senator Wellstone would say, I know it. He would not side with those who say "I've got mine, too bad for you." He would say "everyone deserves healthcare." He would say "don't just look out for Mitt Romney, look out for Tony's mom and all those like her."
Paul Wellstone, like my mother, would not let anything stop him from living his life as best he could, and for him, that meant making sure that everyone could live their lives as best they can. I don't have the same challenges. So in the next few days, I need to keep Paul and others like him in mind and do what he would do. Knock on doors, talk to neighbors, and make sure that our cause continues and that nothing stands in our way.
That's how I'll preserve his memory in the next 12 days, and then all the days to follow.