I return to the US at least once a year, and twice in the past 4 years I have found myself in Minneapolis in a Wellstone town meeting event. I am painfully aware of all his shortcomings politically, starting with flim-flammery around the Gulf War, Palestine, etc. Long time acivists in the Twin Cities have detailed his mistakes and corruptions to me over the past 7 years in excruciating detail -- the same activists who get out the vote for him.
But about those town meetings: they were a revelation for me; gave me a fleeting sense of what a populist politics might look like. He took questions, had good answers, got people in touch with his staff on issues for follow-up, and all around was very respectful, listening carefully. In all my years in and around straight politicians I had never seen anything like it.
Thus, if he uses the campaign to focus on issues, mobilize, provoke, it could be very interesting. But a recent Nation article on the subject has him saying he would have to believe he could actually win to run, suggesting the issues campaing might be a non-starter. We'll see.
Tom
At 17:09 27/05/98 -0400, you wrote:
>My wife had Paul Wellstone as a political science teacher at Carleton
>College in the early 1970s. It was one of those hippie grade yourself
>courses with virtually no content. She says he could never be a serious
>candidate because he's too much of a dork.
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>Doug
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Tom Kruse / Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia Tel/Fax: (591-42) 48242 Email: tkruse at albatros.cnb.net