By DOUG THOMPSON Oct 31, 2002, 09:12

Political operatives at the Democratic National Committee in Washington developed the plan to turn the memorial service for Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone into a political rally, top party sources tell Capitol Hill Blue.

The party also urged the Wellstone family to ask Vice President Dick Cheney to not attend the service and concocted the excuse that security for the VP would disrupt the event even though Secret Service security was required for former president Bill Clinton, who was invited and who did attend.

Rick Kahn, the Wellstone campaign worker and friend, worked the highly partisan crowd into a frenzy with strong rhetoric urging them to get out and elect replacement candidate Walter Mondale.

"That was the plan all along and it was one of the reasons we didn't want Cheney at the event," says one Democratic political operative who spoke only under promise that his name not be used. "It was a high stakes gamble but this is a campaign that demands high risks."

The secret plan was developled at the DNC headquarters in Washington and approved by party chairman Terry McAuliffe, the source said.

Kahn was then briefed and urged to turn the memorial event into a political rally. Wellstone campaign manager Jeff Blodgett's apology Wednesday afternoon was also part of the plan, designed to provide party deniability, the sources said.

"There were two agendas at work," one source said. "We needed to draw attention to the election. Between the sniper and Iraq, the election has been lost in the news. And then we needed to energize the Democratic base and Wellstone supporters in Minnesota."

While Kahn's firey rhetoric, and walkouts by Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura and GOP Senate Leader Trent Lott, fueled controversy, Democratic political operatives in Washington congratulated each other Wednesday.

"Mission accomplished" was the message of the day at the DNC and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee offices.

Sources within both committees also said the Wellstone event is only the beginning of plans for media-generating activities through the election next week.

"This is war," one operative said. "The Republicans are too busy planning war on Iraq. They won't even see us coming."

The DNC and DSCC did not return phone calls seeking comment on this report.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2002

Answers

"There were two agendas at work," one source said. "We needed to draw attention to the election. murder Wellstone.

And then we needed to energize the Democratic base and Wellstone supporters in Minnesota." turn memorial service into political rally.

yep! two agendas.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002

Andrew Sullivan

After Wellstone II:

And if the memorial service wasn't enough, next came the conspiracy theories. Get ready for this: Large numbers of Internet Dems and left-wingers seem to believe that President George W. Bush might have been involved in bringing down Mr. Wellstone's plane. Why? They don't really say. And their accusations are always interspersed with denials in order to let them put the absurd and sickening claim out there with no proof, no evidence and no plausible rationale. Here's Ted Rall, syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, which counts among its columnists William F. Buckley Jr. and Doonesbury: "George W. Bush and his henchmen stole the presidency. They threw thousands of innocent people into prison without even charging them with a crime. They're gearing up to invade Iraq without bothering to come up with a substantial justification. Now some Democrats and progressive Americans are asking the unthinkable about an administration they increasingly believe to be ruled by thugs and renegades. Did government gangsters murder the United States' most liberal legislator? . . . Ronald Reagan may have been a hard-line conservative, but had Wellstone died during his watch you wouldn't have heard liberals asking whether the Gipper had had him offed. Mr. Bush is different. Asking mailmen to spy on ordinary Americans, creating military tribunals for anyone deemed an 'enemy combatant,' locking prisoners of war in dog cages, spending a decade's worth of savings in six months, allowing journalists to die rather than provide them with help in a war zone, smearing Democratic politicians as anti-American, invading sovereign nations without excuse — these are acts that transgress essential American reasonableness. A man capable of these things seems, by definition, capable of anything." There you have what troubles many about parts of the American left today. In commemorating a populist man with integrity, they turned a memorial service into a farce. And in the wake of a tragedy, they looked around immediately for someone to blame, however bizarre and conspiratorial a charge they could come up with. It reminds me of the hideous comments made by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell after September 11, scapegoating other Americans for the massacre. It is, to quote Ted Rall, a transgression of essential American reasonableness.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002

What I wonder about is some Democratic Party political operative, who wants to remain unnamed, spilling the beans like that. Doesn't seem plausible.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002

Sweetie and I were talking about this article last night. I said I thought it very surprising that this info came out as soon as it did. I mean, not that anyone is surprised the DNC is behind it, just that, if you think about it: 1) the info was received; 2) the info was checked via other sources; 3) enough sources confirmed it for Capitol Blue to run with it; 4) they had to have a meeting or two; 5) the article was written and then published. That means the info had to have come out maybe even BEFORE the rally but certainly immediately after.

And so I concluded that this rally was SO distasteful that even some Dem higher-ups were disgusted. Maybe it was an epiphany thing. Xouls bw, too, that the Repubs have someone on the inside, but I'd put my money on the epiphany. If I'm right, then maybe that will be multiplied by thousands, tens of thousands, on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002

Sorry, OG, but I've concluded, right or wrong, that this is a fabrication.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002