"Politics is what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine." With this thought, Senator Paul Wellstone began his book, The Conscience of a Liberal. These words explain perfectly why I admire Senator Wellstone. It was obvious to everyone who knew him that Wellstone truly cared about making people's lives better, and he helped others who wanted to do the same.

Wellstone knew what he needed to do and would not waver from that course. I heard an example of this at a Wellstone memorial early this year. Renee Willette, a 2002 campaign staffer, spoke about watching a tape of Senator Wellstone preparing for a debate. He was meeting with consultants, and the discussion led to one of Wellstone's more controversial decisions: voting against Clinton's welfare reform plan in 1996. The consultants were explaining to him that many people viewed the reforms as a success. Wellstone was silent for a few moments, Renee said. Then, he raised his head and said, "Well, most people are wrong," and proceeded to explain studies he had read that supported his position. This shows the strength of Senator Wellstone's convictions--how he would not change his position in order to get votes.

One of Senator Wellstone's passions was helping people to organize others. This was evident in his teaching at Carleton College where he helped his students organize farmers in the area. He helped them fight the placement of a high-voltage power line and fought bank foreclosure on many family farms. All of this work led to formation of the Organization for a Better Rice County. Throughout this work, Senator Wellstone taught his students and members of the community to organize and mobilize groups of people. This emphasis on grassroots organizing was one of the main focuses of his three Senate campaigns. Even in his third and final campaign (for which there was enough money for a more traditional campaign), Senator Wellstone ran a campaign he described as "the largest citizen, grassroots campaign that has ever been seen in the state of Minnesota."

Many have talked about the bookends of Senator Wellstone's service in the United States Senate: his two votes against war with Iraq. To me, these votes were inevitable, totally consistent with his work in the Senate--and his work as a community organizer before. His 12 years in the Senate blended two apparent opposites: consistency and growth--both to be expected from a principled, intelligent individual faced with significant challenges and opportunities. Senator Wellstone said repeatedly that the best advice he gave to his students at Carleton was, "Never separate the lives that you live from the words that you speak." Senator Wellstone truly worked to fulfill this statement. He did not go against what he believed to get a vote, and he worked to teach others how to do this too.