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.
Possibly most of the people who were at the memorial believe this. That's the problem. Has it occurred to no one involved to say "I behaved dishonorably and inappropriately, and I apologize"? Perhaps they have been taught too well by former President Clinton, who created many occasions on which this would have been the appropriate thing to say. As far as I know, he never said it, not even to those loyal staffers who went in front of cameras and unwittingly lied for him. Now huge swaths of the Democratic party appear to have similarly lost their sense of honor.
Redleg Duke?
Instead, the Democrats make excuses, pass the blame, and say "it was a mistake."
VT now has a Republican governor (a conservative one, I understand.)
I wonder how many of them used to be students whose principals said said that it was just too much to expect them to be quiet and listen to their teachers.
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.
You mean that when Norm Coleman asks that the current system of milk price supports be reconsidered (for which midwestern dairy farmers have been screaming for years), he won't be laughed out of the chamber?
We highly encourage Rick Kahn to speak his mind loudly and whenever he wants to! Thanks, Rick! Bwaahahaha!
LOL...the court commends you for overhearing and thanks you for faithfully reporting on it (**and is mentally kicking itself in the nether regions for not being able to remember who posted it!**)
Nothing that sinister. They just greased him with money and ego, told him that he wouldn't have to serve very long, just to "put on a good show." They thought he'd win - but I don't think Mondale did. He just went along for the short ride and was VERY relieved not to have to go to DC. I also think he was PRIVATELY APPALLED at the way the Sleazeball Committee handled the entire affair. Yeah, he's an old lefty-lib, but I don't think he likes this slimy Clintonoid Crew of MacAuliffe, Shrum, Car-vile and their ilk one bit. Had he won, he'd be forced to rub shoulders with them for a while, and that couldn't have been a pleasant prospect.
Nope, they paid him, he did the gig, he gets to stay home and have fun - it was a win-win for him. It was only a loss for the Slime Wing of the Dem party.
Michael
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