Death Fri. of Sen. Wellstone (D-Minn.) in airplane crash saddened...

Death Fri. of Sen. Wellstone (D-Minn.) in airplane crash saddened both Democrats and Republicans in Senate, with many colleagues from both parties issuing statements saying he was good man and would be missed. Wellstone, 58, died in twin- engine plane crash 175 miles north of Minneapolis. All 8 persons aboard died, including Wellstone’s wife Sheila, daughter Marcia, 3 campaign workers, 2 pilots. Wellstone wasn’t on either Senate Commerce or Judiciary Committee, but he had demonstrated interest in broadband. In both 106th and 107th Congresses, Wellstone was primary co-sponsor of legislation to boost rural broadband. In 107th Congress, he was original co-sponsor of S-966, introduced by Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) and co-sponsored by Sens. Carnahan (D-Mo.), Conrad (D-N.D.), Daschle (D-S.D.), Thomas (D-Wyo.), Harkin (D-Ia.), Hollings (D-S.C.), Johnson (D-S.D.) and Murray (D-Wash.). Bill would have had NTIA direct Rural Utilities Service under Dept. of Agriculture to make up to $3 billion in loans to rural carriers to support broadband buildout. Wellstone also was known as privacy advocate and made several efforts during debate on the USA Patriot Act to amend bill to ensure privacy. His death 11 days before Senate election in Minn. created some confusion politically. However, Minn. state Democrats cited state law allowing a political party to replace candidate on ballot who died, and they said they were confident they would be allowed to replace Wellstone on ballot. Left unclear was whether Wellstone’s campaign funds would be available to that candidate; as of June 30, Wellstone had $2.57 million on hand, according to Federal Election Commission. Wellstone was considered to be vulnerable in Nov. election. Polls often showed him with slight lead over Republican Norm Coleman, former mayor of St. Paul, but those leads sometimes fell within the poll’s margin of error.