Crash Of Wellstone's Plane Probed
Federal investigators searched the wreckage of a small plane Saturday for clues in the crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone, as the state and political colleagues mourned the liberal Democratic lawmaker, and control of the Senate entered uncharted territory.
A 16-member team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived Friday night, and acting chairwoman Carol Carmody said the first priority was finding the cockpit voice recorder.
Carmody said Saturday that the NTSB team would be at the site for four to six days, but it could take months to determine the cause of the crash, which killed Wellstone, his wife and daughter, and five others.
The twin-engine plane went down in a swampy, wooded area about two miles from
the tiny Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport in northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range.
Wellstone was headed to the funeral of a state representative's father when the plane crashed Friday morning in freezing rain and light snow.
The wreckage was still smoldering several hours after the crash, several hundred yards from the closest paved road and about 175 miles north of Minneapolis. There were no survivors.
Carmody said only the tail of the plane was intact.
Investigators will examine trees for indications of the angle of the plane's descent, and will review records to determine if the weather was a factor in the crash, she said.
The terrain will make the job harder. "It's a complicated site, very marshy, lots of trees," Carmody said.
The National Weather Service had issued an advisory to pilots that morning that icing was possible, and the airport's assistant manager, Gary Ulman, said the wreckage was not on the usual approach to the runway, suggesting the pilot might have aborted the landing.
"It's just terrible. Say a prayer," said Lisa Pattni, an aide at the crash site.
The death brought an outpouring of grief from both supporters and opponents of the 58-year-old Wellstone, one of the foremost liberals on Capitol Hill.
"Everybody who knew him has a clear picture of him, bouncing around, jabbing, saying his piece, standing up for the underdog and the unspoken-for," said Garrison Keillor, the writer and satirist who hosts the "Prairie Home Companion" radio show. "A lot of people voted for him who didn't really agree with him - they just liked him so much."
In St. Paul, thousands of mourners stood in a cold rain to pay tribute at the Capitol and outside the senator's headquarters. Many wept.
"It doesn't seem real," said Tom Collins, who had done volunteer work for the Wellstone campaign. "It's a nightmare."
All eight people aboard the 11-seat King Air A-100 were killed, said Greg Martin, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Campaign officials confirmed the victims included Wellstone's wife, Sheila, 58, and daughter, Marcia, 33; three campaign staff members; and two pilots.
"Today the state of Minnesota has suffered a deep and penetrating loss," Gov. Jesse Ventura said.
Wellstone's death threw the battle for control of the Senate into very murky waters. Before the crash, Democrats held control by a single seat.
Minnesota law allows the governor to fill a vacant Senate seat, but it also allows a political party to pick a replacement if a nominee dies. In this case, the name must be offered by next Thursday.
Ventura hopes to make a decision by Monday on whether to name a temporary successor to Wellstone, Ventura's spokesman said Saturday.
The spokesman, John Wodele, said it was his impression that the governor, who is an independent, would name a Democrat to Wellstone's seat if he makes an appointment at all.
Shaken Democratic officials wouldn't comment on possible replacements, but they were in need of a powerhouse substitute.
Wellstone was up against Republican Norm Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul and President Bush's choice to challenge the two-term incumbent.
"The people of Minnesota have experienced a terrible, unimaginable tragedy," Coleman said.
As of last week, a poll showed Wellstone with a slight lead, 47 percent to 41 percent.
With Election Day on Nov. 5, it may take someone with the high-profile stature of a Mondale, a Humphrey or perhaps former Minnesota Viking Alan Page to pull it off.
"You need somebody who's known statewide," said Craig Grau, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. "In the past, people have had widows. That is not the case in this situation."
None of the top contenders to take on Coleman returned phone calls seeking comment, but their names and a handful of others were in circulation within hours of the crash.
As one of the Senate's most liberal members, Wellstone was one of Republicans' hottest targets this year - and the race broke Minnesota records for the money that washed in. The two candidates raised a collective $19 million, with at least that much spent by others on their behalf.
The Democrats' best possibility might be Walter Mondale, the former vice president and senator who is now an attorney in Minneapolis. Mondale, who will turn 75 in January, didn't return a phone call seeking comment and didn't take questions Friday as he and other Democrats, including Sen. Ted Kennedy, expressed sorrow at Wellstone's death.
"I just want to spend today mourning," Mondale, who will turn 75 in January, told The Washington Post for its Saturday edition.
Other possibilities include Mondale's son Ted, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate; Skip Humphrey, former state attorney general and son of former Vice President Hubert Humphrey; state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, a
former pro football star; and state Attorney General Mike Hatch.
At the site, FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said there was no indication the crash was related to terrorism. He also said it would take time to recover the bodies, which remained in the wreckage late Friday.
Ventura said flags at state buildings would be flown at half-staff through Nov. 5.
In Texas, Mr. Bush called Wellstone "a man of deep convictions."
"He was a plainspoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country," the president said. "May the good Lord bless those who grieve."
Before running for office, Wellstone was a professor and community organizer who fused the two passions in a course he taught at Carleton College in Northfield called "Social Movements and Grassroots Organizing."
He stunned the political establishment by upsetting Republican Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in 1990. Afterward, left-leaning Mother Jones magazine called him "the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate."
Wellstone pledged to stay for no more than two terms, but last year announced he would be running again. In February, he said he had been diagnosed with a mild form of multiple sclerosis but didn't stop campaigning.
Wellstone also had two sons, David, 37, and Mark, 30, and six grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.