Senator Paul Wellstone, one of the most liberal and popular Democrats in the US Senate, died yesterday in an air crash in Minnesota where he was campaigning in mid-term elections.
Mr Wellstone (58) and seven other people, including his wife Sheila and daughter Marcia, were killed instantly when their aircraft crashed in freezing rain in northern Minnesota yesterday morning. The other casualties were three campaign aides and two pilots.
Senator Edward Kennedy had been travelling with Mr Wellstone in a crucial campaign which could decide control of the Senate after the November 5th elections, but was not on the aircraft.
Mr Wellstone, the son of Russian immigrants, was the only one of 34 senators fighting for re-election to vote against a resolution authorising President Bush to make war on Iraq.
The Wellstone campaign had chartered the aircraft to fly from Duluth to Eveleth-Virginia for a funeral. It took off in light snow and freezing rain and went down about 11 miles from Eveleth in a wooded swampy area of the Iron Range hills.
Mr Wellstone was fighting a Republican challenge from Mr Norm Coleman, a former mayor of St Paul, to hold his seat for a third term. Mr Wellstone was noted for his passion about issues such as the minimum wage, mental health and healthcare for low-income people, and was immensely popular in Congress. Colleagues said he was considered the authentic, uncompromising voice of 1960s idealism in the tradition of Senator Eugene McCarthy, also from Minnesota.
In an emotional tribute, Mr Kennedy said he had a passion "for the good things and for people".
Two years ago, the Governor of Missouri, Mel Carnahan, and his son were killed when their aircraft went down in Missouri late in the 2000 Senate campaign. Voters still chose him over the Republican challenger, Mr John Ashcroft, now the Attorney General, and his widow was appointed to fill the seat for two years.
In this case, the Minnesota ballot papers will be reprinted to include the name of a new Democratic candidate.
Mr Wellstone voted in 1990 against the Gulf War but supported the US bombing of Iraq in 1998.
The former political science professor was to debate Mr Coleman in Duluth last night. The Republican challenger had attacked Mr Wellstone on Iraq and for going back on a pledge to serve only two Senate terms.
In 1999 he pulled out of a run for the presidency after doctors said the campaign would aggravate a ruptured disc back injury. Recently he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
President Bush said: "Paul Wellstone was a man of deep convictions, a plain-spoken fella who did his best for his state and his country."