The northern Minnesota bog, surrounded by thick pine, was the final resting place of the Democratic senator that Kahn had known his entire life. Kahn waded into the debris field 11 days ago, trembling, and made a vow to his friend and to God. “It’s not going to end here in this awful place,” Kahn said. “Not in this way, not now.”
The state of Minnesota is in a state of anxiety tonight over the race between former St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman and former vice president Walter Mondale. But nobody here is more anxious about the outcome of the Senate race than Kahn. He has been turned into a campaign issue of sorts, by virtue of an emotional speech he delivered at Wellstone’s memorial service on Oct. 29, one week before Election Day.
Wellstone’s campaign treasurer, Kahn had little experience on the large stage, let alone one in front of 20,000 anguished fans of the passionate professor whose populist platform made him the Senate’s liberal gold standard. His speech, unvetted by the event’s planners, ran long, and at one point he urged Rep. Jim Ramstad, a Republican sitting among Senate Republican leaders like Trent Lott, to help Minnesota Democrats support Wellstone’s replacement. “We are begging you to help us win this election for Paul Wellstone,” Kahn said.
The speech and other moments during the memorial convinced Republicans and some commentators that the occasion had been inappropriately partisan. The days since have been the stuff of nightmares for Kahn. He regrets his speech, and, worse, fears he may have lost the race he set out to revive. It’s a responsibility few if any Minnesota Democrats, not even in whispers, seem to be thrusting on Kahn. He wasn’t the only emotional speaker, and the crowd’s slight booing of Lott drew the most criticism. But Kahn’s name remains closely associated with the memorial. “All I was talking about at the rally was that Paul was a brother to me,” Kahn told NEWSWEEK. “It wasn’t about politics, it wasn’t about partisan politics. It was a public expression of my private grief. All I hope is that people would find it in their heart to understand and forgive me.”
Tonight, Kahn is with his family, unsure whether he’ll go to the Mondale campaign’s celebration at the St. Paul Radisson Hotel. “I’ll wait to see what happens,” he says. “I’m just praying it works out all right.”
At polling stations around the Twin Cities, bursting with extraordinary turnout, the Wellstone memorial was on the also minds of some voters. Most called it unfortunate. But, this being Minnesota, even some Coleman supporters were “nice” about it. An informal survey of Minnesotans who’d just voted suggests that the Wellstone memorial may have turned a few votes, but not an entire bloc. “The memorial was unfortunate,” said Susan Plimpton, minutes after casting her vote for Mondale. “But it was unscripted and the guy [Kahn] was close to Wellstone and got carried away, and the Republicans made hay over it. It was nothing more than that.” Jamie Sens, a 30-year-old registered Independent, also mentioned the memorial, but only as an aside. “But for me, it came down to choice, and Coleman doesn’t support a woman’s right to chose. That, and Mondale’s from Minnesota, and Norm’s from out East, and Minnesota really is a DFL [Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party] state, with all the farms and all.”
Whether it was the memorial or Mondale filling Wellstone’s shoes, some swing voters found themselves voting for Coleman at the last minute. “The memorial did leave a bad taste in my mouth,” said Chris Young, 32, a business-systems analyst who’s also an Independent. “They had the momentum and lost it.” Justin Beverly, another registered Independent, felt the same way and voted for Coleman. That said, he added, judging from his friends, family and coworkers, Mondale and Wellstone’s memory would carry the day. “A lot of people in Minnesota are going to feel bad,” said the 27-year-old office technology salesman, “and that ‘Minnesota Nice’ is going to give the sympathy vote to Mondale.” In the end, though, the memorial didn’t change Beverly’s Senate vote from Democrat to Republican so much as Mondale’s lack of experience–on the campaign trail. “Is he going to champion Wellstone’s ideals?” he asked. “I don’t know. He said he’d try, but how concrete is that? I can point to what Coleman’s done for the betterment of St. Paul. He brought pro hockey back to Minnesota, and I’m a huge hockey fan.” Tonight, nobody’s cheering more desperately for Coleman’s opponent than Rick Kahn.
