Beth writes,
My senior year of high school it was announced that the county was looking for people to work as “junior election judges” on election night. I don’t remember all the details, but I was 17 at the time and signed up. I can’t remember if I was supposed to get paid or not (I didn’t), but I didn’t do it to get paid; I was excited to get to help people vote and maybe steal an “I voted” sticker. Ten days before a very close election, the plane carrying our incumbent senator crashed in the north woods. I don’t know any Minnesota liberal over the age of 20 that is completely over the death of Sen. Wellstone, his wife, his daughter and his aides. Election day rolled around, as it had to
despite our grief, and we had to hand count the provisional ballots that had been printed. While Mondale carried our precinct, Coleman won over all. In the six years since then, Sen. Coleman has proven that he is a politician in the worst sense of the word. He’s finally up for reelection. I’ll be voting for Al Franken soon, but I still wish I had gotten the chance to vote for Paul [Wellstone].
Oh, Senator Wellstone, an early community organizer whose politics I could get behind, including the “Organization for a Better Rice County, a group consisting mainly of single parents on welfare, which he organized to advocate for public housing, affordable health care, improved public education, free school lunches, and a publicly-funded day care center.” If only.
Meanwhile, if any of you are in the NYC area on Thursday night, PPNYC is organizing a VP Debate Watch Party:
Thursday, October 2nd at 8pm
Slainte Bar & Lounge at 304 Bowery (between Bleecker & Houston)
Join them for games and drink specials.
And by the way, if you aren’t registered to vote, GET ON IT. You can find out if you’re already registered, and if not, find out your state’s final registration dates here.