Thomas Daschle: “a number of us have come to the floor today to remember and celebrate someone most of us knew and many of us loved. Paul…”

“a number of us have come to the floor today to remember and celebrate someone most of us knew and many of us loved. Paul Wellstone believed that politics is about more than money; it is about more than power. As he said so often, in the last analysis politics is what we create by what we do, by what we hope for, by what we dare to imagine. Paul Wellstone dared to imagine so much. There is a quote he loved from the famous abolitionist, Wendell Phillips. One day, after Phillips had given a speech, a friend told him: Wendell, you were on fire. Phillips replied: Brother, I'm on fire because I have mountains of ice before me to melt. Paul Wellstone saw good in everyone, including people whose politics he disagreed with strongly and who disagreed just as strongly with him, but Paul also saw injustice and he had the fire and the conviction to end it. He used his wit, his charm, his astonishing organizing abilities and every ounce of his hyperkinetic energy to fight for people with few champions in places of power. He fought for family farmers on the edge of foreclosure. He fought for workers facing layoffs, for older people trying to decide which prescription to fill this month. He and Sheila, his indispensable partner, fought for women and children threatened by violence. He fought for teachers and coal miners, for Vietnam veterans.…”