The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS Nov. 6 — The memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone marked the beginning and probably the end, too of Walter Mondale's last campaign.

Many voters who rejected the former vice president Tuesday in his bid to return to the Senate said they were turned off by the memorial service's fierce partisan tone. During the Oct. 29 memorial, several speakers, including Wellstone's sons, urged mourners to vote Democratic.

"I changed my mind because I went down to the memorial service," Dennis Van Norman said as he left a polling place in suburban Roseville. "I told myself I wouldn't vote for Democrats for anything. I thought they were misbehaving more."

Another voter, Tom Calder, said he decided against Mondale after the service but was nearly swayed back by the debate with GOP rival Norm Coleman on Monday. But ultimately he voted for the Green Party candidate.

Coleman won with 50 percent of the vote, while Mondale had 47 percent.

"At the end of what will be my last campaign, I want to say to Minnesota, you always treated me well," the 74-year-old Mondale said in defeat.

Mondale came out of retirement and ran a lightning, six-day campaign after Wellstone was killed in a plane crash 11 days before the election.

In his concession speech Wednesday morning, Mondale took responsibility for the loss. "It's on my shoulders," he said, as supporters yelled "No!"

When a reporter later asked about the effect of the memorial service on the race, Mondale said it was "regrettable" it turned so political.

But he added: "The eulogizers were the ones hurt the most. It doesn't justify it, but we all make mistakes. Can't we now find it in our hearts to forgive them and go on?"

Larry Jacobs, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota, blamed the state Democratic Party for the event. "Not to coordinate the content of the speeches was a fundamental mistake," Jacobs said. "There seemed to be more attention on music than tone and message."

Democratic state party chairman Mike Erlandson said the memorial service allowed Republicans to start campaigning aggressively the very next day, and gave ammunition to conservative talk radio hosts across the state.

"Ultimately, people spoke from the heart" at the memorial service, he said. "What was missing was damage control on our side. That should have taken place more vigorously."

While other Republicans criticized the event, Coleman said little about it and offered sympathy for Wellstone's family at every campaign stop for the next week.

"That allowed Norm Coleman to become the chief mourner," Jacobs said.

Coleman, 53, compared the race against Mondale to running against Mount Rushmore and emphasized the need to work hard for something, an implicit contrast to Mondale's late entry in the race.

Coleman also sprinted through dozens of cities, capped with an election eve tour of 16 cities in 16 hours. That yielded a double benefit: He was able to hunt for more votes in a tight race, and at the same time contrast his energy level with Mondale's.

"He clearly outworked Mondale," Jacobs said. "That's part of how he demonstrated, `I am young, I am vigorous, I can do this my opponent can't.' He raised the age issue through his behavior. He was like the Energizer Bunny. This is not something Walter Mondale could do."

Still, Jacobs said, Mondale should be credited with stepping into a race with just days left, demonstrating a command of the issues and running a competitive campaign.

That was no surprise to former U.S. attorney and longtime Mondale adviser David Lillehaug. "For him it was like riding a bicycle," Lillehaug said.

Jacobs called Mondale's last political hurrah "a noble, courageous effort to pick up the baton from a fallen runner and try to cross the finish line."

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002