Tina Smith Instagram – When we visited Chisholm and Virginia, Minnesota recently, we took a moment to visit Paul Wellstone’s memorial outside Eveleth. It was a peaceful lovely fall day, the colors just changing, leaves crunching underfoot and the smell of damp earth in the air. I loved showing my young organizing team the memorial and telling them about Paul, his work, and his joyful approach to politics. Our visit was almost exactly a month to the day from the 18th anniversary of the senseless plane crash that took Paul, Sheila, Marcia, Mary, Tom, and Will. He was four years younger than I am now.
It is fair to say that I think about him almost every day, as I hold this Senate seat that he once held. We were very different, but we had a joyful friendship, forged on the campaign trail, visiting small towns and coffee shops all over Minnesota. We both were organizers and optimists at heart, always working to build relationships with people and figuring out how to get good things done to help people, especially regular folks just living their lives. Paul was never afraid to work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to accomplish things for people, nor am I. I strive to live up to his legacy.
This month, I’ve thought often about how Paul used to say, “Now is no time for tippy-toe politics.” What I think he meant is that there are times when it is especially important to be bold, to worry less and act more, to take the power we all have and to put it on the line. This is one of those times. I cannot imagine what Paul would have thought of this moment in our country’s history, but I am sure he would have inspired all of us to be bold, to put it all on the line for this election, and for the work that comes next, after we win. Paul was an optimist, as am I. He would have told us to get out there and organize, organize, organize, and get ready for the work ahead. | Posted on 25/Oct/2020 20:04:13
