Published Oct. 25, 2002 CRAS26

EVELETH, Minn. -- Paul Wellstone, an outspoken liberal Democrat locked in a re-election battle considered key to control of the Senate, was killed in a plane crash today in northern Minnesota along with his wife, daughter and five others.

The twin-engine private plane went down in freezing rain and light snow near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, about 175 miles north of Minneapolis. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Wellstone, a 58-year-old former Carleton College professor and one of the foremost liberals on Capitol Hill, was on his way to the funeral of the father of a state lawmaker and then was to make campaign appearances on the Iron Range in the climactic days of his race for a third term.

The FAA said the plane, registered to Beech Transportation Inc., was bound from St. Paul to Eveleth. It last had contact with an air traffic controller at approximately 10:20 a.m., agency officials said.

They offered no information as to the cause of the crash or whether ice had built up on the plane's wings. A local search and rescue team raced to the crash site.

CNN reported that the plane is equipped with a cockpit flight recorder.

Only a plume of smoke marked the crash site when pilot Gary Ulman spotted it from the air. He said the wreckage was a mile or two off course and a mile or two from the Eveleth airport.

''I was following the track that they should have been on,'' Ulman said. "I saw smoke that I thought was just a chimney fire. I thought I better go check it out anyhow...flew over it.

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle expressed shock and grief over the accident, and the White House lowered its flag to half staff.

At a news conference at Wellstone's campaign office, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who was in the Twin Cities to campaign with Democrats, said that Wellstone was "really a special person, a very unique man.. . . We'll miss you Paul, and we'll never forget you."

Wellstone was locked in a race with former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman that some felt could decide control of the closely divided U.S. Senate. The political consequences of the tragedy will play out in the next several days.

President Bush, who found Wellstone a relentless political adversary, extended his "prayers and heartfelt sympathy."

He called Wellstone "a man of deep convictions, a plain-spoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country."

"Today, the nation lost its most passionate advocate for fairness and justice for all," said Kennedy, who often worked with Wellstone on the party's liberal wing. "He had an intense passion and enormous ability to reach out, touch and improve the lives of the people he served so brilliantly."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, called Wellstone "the heart and soul of the Democratic party -- a champion for families."

His conviction and ideals were "one of the reasons I had the courage to run for the Senate in 1992," she said.

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the Senate minority leader, called Wellstone's loss "a death in our family" that is "too heartbreaking for words."

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who worked with Wellstone on pioneering legislation to expand mental health coverage, couldn't find them. He broke up and was unable to speak during a CNN interview.

Minnesota Republicans also mourned.

"I don't think words can describe how we feel right now," said Rep. Gil Gutknecht. "A terrible pall is over the entire state of Minnesota today, over the entire political arena, and in many respects, over the upcoming election."

Gutknecht, a conservative, said that while he disagreed with Wellstone's liberal politics "98 percent of the time," they "never had a disagreeable word."

"The world has lost a passionate fighter," declared Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal advocacy group whose members were among Wellstone's staunchest allies. "He was a defender of peace, advocate for mental health care and crusader against violence against women.

"He always fought for what he believes was right without regard for political consequences ... We ... have lost a friend and are devastated."

``It's just terrible. Say a prayer,'' said Lisa Pattni, a Wellstone aide who was at the crash site.

All eight people aboard the 11-seat King Air A-100 were killed, said Greg Martin, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Campaign officials confirmed the victims as Wellstone's wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia, campaign staff members Will McLaughlin, Tom Lapic and Mary McEvoy, and two unidentified pilots.

Wellstone's death just 11 days before Election Day threw the battle for the Senate into uncharted territory. Before Friday, Democrats held control by a single seat.

State officials were researching whether Wellstone's name would remain on the ballot, or whether Gov. Jesse Ventura or state Democrats could appoint a replacement.

State law allows for the governor to fill a vacant Senate seat, but allows for the party to appoint a replacement in the event of the death of a nominee. State Democratic Party spokesman Bill Amberg said he was confident the party would be allowed to offer a replacement.

Wellstone was a champion of progressive and liberal causes, a firebrand in the Senate who was unafraid to stand alone in fighting for the poor and the down and out. In recent years, he had developed a wide national following, fueled by his flirtation with a presidential run in 1998. Wellstone decided against running the next year, citing back problems.

He stormed onto the national stage in 1990 with a populist campaign that carried him to a stunning triumph over veteran Republican Sen. Rudy Boschwitz.

He vowed to serve only two terms, but changed his mind last year and decided to seek office again, citing the Democrats' single-vote majority in the Senate and the need to press ahead with the critical issues facing the nation.

He became such a thorn in the side of Republicans that President Bush personally recruited Coleman in an attempt to defeat Wellstone.

It was the third plane crash in which a senator or Senate candidate died in recent years. Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan died in a crash shortly before the 2000 election, while he campaigned for the Senate. In 1991, then-Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., died when his plane collided with a helicopter.

In Missouri, Carnahan's name remained on the ballot and he beat Republican Sen. John Ashcroft. Carnahan's widow, Jean, was appointed to serve in his place and is now seeking election to a full term against Republican Jim Talent.

Coleman was making a campaign appearance in Grand Rapids today and was scheduled to go on to Duluth. After hearing of Wellstone's death, he canceled the rest of his day's campaign schedule and returned to St. Paul.

"Our only statement is that our prayers are with the family," said Coleman campaign manager Ben Whitney.

Before running for office, Wellstone was a professor and community organizer who fused the two passions in a course he taught called ``Social Movements and Grassroots Organizing.''

After his long-shot 1990 victory over Boschwitz, left-leaning Mother Jones magazine called him ``the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate.''

In February, Wellstone announced he had been diagnosed with a mild form of multiple sclerosis but he said it wouldn't stop his campaign.

``For me, no stress would be stress,'' Wellstone said at the time. ``The stress of this campaign is what I want to do, to be perfectly honest. And the stress of being a senator is what I want to do.''

State Democratic Party chairman Mike Erlandson said Wellstone for years had been ``the heartbeat'' of the party.

``He took pride every day in fighting on behalf of the people of Minnesota,'' he said.

Liberal to the end, Wellstone cast his vote earlier this month against legislation to authorize the use of force in Iraq - the only Democrat in a competitive race to go against Bush on the issue.

Wellstone also had two sons, David and Mark, and six grandchildren.

The King Air turboprop was made by Raytheon Corp. with Pratt & Whitney engines, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The owner was listed as Beech Transportation Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn., and the plane had been leased by Wellstone.