Posted on 11/26/2002 1:00:29 PM PST by What Is Ain't
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - In hindsight, their first mistake may have been holding a memorial service in a big basketball arena.
Under a bank of Jumbotron screens.
Live on C-Span.
The Oct. 29 service held for Sen. Paul Wellstone after he was killed in a plane crash turned into a raucous political pep rally that turned off many voters. Some analysts say it not only led to the defeat of Wellstone stand-in Walter Mondale but also may have contributed to the Democrats' setbacks nationally.
In studying the anatomy of a debacle, many critics have focused on the blunt-edged speech of Wellstone's close friend Rick Kahn. But the event was designed from the start to be boisterous and, yes, political.
"The problem was the labeling," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. "The mistake was in labeling this as a memorial instead of a celebration of the lives of these individuals, which is what it was."
She said people tuned in expecting a funeral and instead got a rally.
Others said that holding the event in a sports arena that seats nearly 15,000 all but predetermined the tone.
"To expect that 15- or 20,000 Wellstone supporters would be quiet as pictures of Trent Lott and others flashed on the screen was too much to expect," said Steve Smith, director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis.
The crowd's booing of Lott was difficult to hear on television but obvious to reporters there. The event was featured prominently on the national news, and conservative pundits seized on the spectacle.
"The problem here was that this was an event controlled by a family that was grieving and a campaign staff that was no longer in the campaign," Smith said. "So, there were errors in judgment."
Wellstone campaign manager Jeff Blodgett apologized for the event the next morning but declined to revisit it in a recent interview, saying: "We've paid the price for the memorial many times over. We're moving on."
The event almost happened in an entirely different way.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source familiar with the planning meeting the day after Wellstone died said the small group considered holding the service in a more somber setting such as a cathedral. But that idea was rejected for a variety of reasons.
One reason was that the senator was Jewish. But organizers also believed that any tribute to Wellstone had to reflect the populist bent of the man. Thus the big arena.
To those paying close attention, the intent of the memorial was clear in the advertised theme: "Stand up, keep fighting."
During the event, Wellstone's wife, daughter and three campaign staffers were given tearful eulogies. But when Kahn, chosen by sons Mark and David to speak of their father, took the podium, he almost immediately changed the tone.
"We are begging you to help us win this election for Paul Wellstone," he told the crowd. "We can redeem the sacrifice of his life if you help us win this election for Paul Wellstone." Kahn also singled out some Republican lawmakers in the crowd to ask them to honor Wellstone by supporting a Democrat for his seat.
Mark Wellstone spoke later and started a finger-jabbing chant of "We will win!" When the video monitors in the arena focused on Mondale, then Wellstone's presumed replacement, the crowd began chanting, "Fritz!"
Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Terry McAuliffe recently told a group of editorial writers that the big-screen close-ups were the biggest mistake of the event, which he said could have cost Democrats nationwide.
Afterward, the event's organizers were in shock, one person present said, and some immediately realized it was a public relations disaster.
Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, a political independent, said the very next morning that he was so disgusted he walked out. Republican challenger Norm Coleman was essentially given a fresh start.
"Up until the event, the Coleman people were scared out of their minds," said GOP strategist Sarah Janecek.
Neither Kahn nor the Wellstone brothers would comment for this story. But Kahn said in a radio interview the week after the election he intended his speech to be a personal expression of grief. He said he had no regrets: "I didn't say anything bad at all, and I wouldn't. It's not in my heart."
Mark Penn, who conducts polls for former President Clinton (news - web sites), told Time magazine he found 49 percent of voters thought the service made them less likely to vote for a Democrat. About 67 percent of independent voters felt that way, and overall 68 percent of voters had heard about the service.
There isn't a bigger loser on the planet right now than Frank Lautenberg. I'm sure Mondale spent the entire Election Tuesday night calling his campaign managers to tell them not to order any recount under any circumstances. In fact, he probably waited until the results from other states were in, then had several thousand of his supporters go out and vote for Coleman.
Do you think he's lying? Or do you think he's really such a completely clueless jackass that he didn't know his behavior was absolutely uncivil?
You're not moving on until the clerk in the unemployment line yells:
"Next!"
Ahhh...but to THEM, Wellstone's death was a blessing because he wasn't doing well in the polls. They could care less about people dying. People low, vile things to them. Just ask them...they'll tell you.
The DISASTER to them was the idea their lunacy during the memorial/celebration/campaign-kickoff rally may have cost them the election. It may not have made much difference, either...of all the has-beens they could dig up and dust off, MONDALE was the worst possible choice.
I refer to this phenomenon as The Reverse Sally Field Moment, when the subject suddenly realizes, "You don't like me. You really don't like me!"
Normal human defenses will prevent The Reverse Sally Field Moment at all costs and in the face of almost any evidence.
Nah, it's not new. They've always given nasty things different labels, in order to make them more appealing to the masses. They've labeled socialist collectivism as "sensitivity" for years. Examples from recent history: "saving Bosnia", "it takes a villiage", "co-you-know-what-sident" and "Senate plurality leader"
Conducts as in present tense.
Sleazy bum can't stop asking the mirror on the wall about his legacy.
Pathetic!
How do you forgive someone who hasn't apologized?
OK, pal. If you say so. Personally, I think you're full of used food, but whatever blows your skirt up. What was too much to expect was the American electorate putting up with so-called "liberal" shenanigans such as the Wellstone Funearally. The internet and so-called 'conservative' news outlets are at least providing an alternative to the classical brainwashing the mouthbreathers have been subject to for decades. I'm at least seeing encouraging signs of life in the electorate, though I won't hold my breath.
That's a good point. Somewhere on FreeRepublic there is a personal account from a Freeper who was riding on the same Amtrak train as Democratic speechwriter Bob Shrum on the day of that Wellstone rally -- and he overheard all of Shrum's cell phone conversations with McAuliffe, Harkin, etc. while Shrum was writing the speech that Harkin would deliver that night.
The problem is that the governor of NJ is a dem (IIRC). Lautenberg can step down in six months for "health" reasons and another dem will be put in. Mondale would have had to stick out the full term to keep a Republican governor from replacing him with a Republican.
Wellstone Memorial on C-SPAN2 NOW!
Stupid idiots! The PROBLEM was that the Clintoons and the Mondale's don't have sense enough to behave in a reverent manner at a MEMORIAL SERVICE, for God's sake. It irritates the heck out of me that they're blaming this on the grieving family members of Paul Wellstone. The family members didn't tell the Clintoons and the Mondale's to behave like disgusting, IDIOTS! Grrrrrrrrr.
That works for the Democrats if their only goal is to keep the seat in Democratic hands, but life will be a lot easier for the Bush administration now that they can write off New Jersey entirely.
Look at Vermont, with two of the biggest @ssholes in the U.S. Senate (Jim Jeffords and Pat Leahy). That state isn't going to get a nickel of federal money for the next two years, even if al-Qaeda sends a billion Islamic terrorists to invade from Canada.
In other words, nobody who McGreevey might name to replace the Lout (other than any number of Republicans) is going to make one heck of a difference for New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.
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