I was going to write about the upcoming U.S. House race between Tammy Baldwin and Ron Greer. I was going to discuss how Baldwin has been a poor representative, but I was going to be careful not to endorse Greer either, because his views are way too far to the right for this district.

After a U.S. senator from my home state of Minnesota, Paul Wellstone, passed away, I was going to discuss this tragedy, because even though there might not have been many issues we agreed on, he seemed to be a man committed to his beliefs. I will discuss this, but unfortunately, not in the same context.

Tuesday night, a public “memorial service” took place on the University of Minnesota campus, supposedly to honor Senator Wellstone, his wife, daughter and the five other people who tragically died in a plane crash in northern Minnesota Friday. Vice President Dick Cheney was to come to the event, until the family requested he not attend.

A bipartisan group of national figures were on hand, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, Wellstone’s opponent, former St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman and Governor Jesse Ventura, just to name a few.

These leaders, many of whom flew in from all over the country, were in attendance to honor a man they often disagreed with but respected. The four major Minnesota television networks carried the four-plus hour event live, and I tuned in on C-SPAN 2 in Washington, D.C. I wanted to pay my respects to those who died well before their time.

This should have been a wonderful ceremony honoring Sen. Paul Wellstone; sadly, it almost immediately turned into a large political rally for the Democrats, only comparable to a national political-convention rally.

Watching, you could see the joy in former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton’s faces. You could see Sen. Tom Daschle’s mind just churning, thinking how this will be his ticket to at least two more years as Senate Majority Leader.

Some liberal Democrats have accused Republicans of exploiting the War on Terrorism for political gain. However, Republicans have gone to great lengths to avoid doing this, because national security should not be a political issue. Death is similar; it should not be political.

Minnesota Republican Senate candidate Norm Coleman rightfully suspended all campaign activities after Wellstone’s death. Yet, Wellstone ads continued to run and Minnesota Democrats were busy filing a lawsuit.

Wellstone’s camp issued something of an apology yesterday, saying Tuesday night wasn’t intentionally political. But, it was a Wellstone staffer, campaign treasurer Rick Kahn and Wellstone’s youngest son, Michael, who really made the event what it was.

This was supposed to be a memorial, yet the audience was booing Senator Lott as if he had just broken up a touchdown pass to Randy Moss.

Most Minnesotans have more class. Minnesota’s Independent governor Jesse Ventura said he felt “used,” “violated” and “duped” — he wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Wellstone was an extremely friendly person to everyone and had numerous Republican colleagues he considered friends — yet they could not have felt welcome at Tuesday night’s DFL rally.

Just as it would have been wrong for Coleman to continue his campaigning over the past weekend, it is outrageous that Tuesday night’s political rally for Walter Mondale and his party was done under the auspices of a memorial service — all under the eye of a captive television audience tuned in to pay their respects to the late senator.

If Paul Wellstone really was the man everyone says he was, I can only think he would be ashamed of Tuesday night’s rally.

People of all political ideologies should respect Paul Wellstone for his fire and passion. But no one should exploit his unexpected death for political gain. Disgraceful.

Matt Modell ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. He is in Washington, D.C., this semester for an internship.