Confirmed: Paul Wellstone, family, killed in plane crash
Posted: Friday, October 25th, 2002 12:11 pmSenator Paul Wellstone, a two-term Democrat locked in one of the tightest campaigns in the nation, was killed this morning when his campaign plane crashed in freezing rain near Eveleth, Minn., a small town in the northeastern part of the state.
Mr. Wellstone’s high school sweetheart and wife of 39 years, Sheila, 58; their 33-year-old daughter, Marcia Markuson; three campaign aides; and two pilots also died in the fiery crash, which obliterated their 11-seat turboprop among the pine trees.
Senator Wellstone, 58, a former political science professor, was an unabashed liberal who often landed on the short end of 99-1 votes. …
The plane crash was a shocking echo of the crash that killed Gov. Mel Carnahan of Missouri, the Democratic Senate nominee, shortly before Election Day in 2000. …
The cause of the crash was unknown. Officials said they lost track of the plane, which was supposed to land at 10 a.m. at the Eveleth-Virginia airport, at around 10:50. …
Mr. Wellstone and the others were flying from St. Paul to Eveleth to attend the funeral of Martin Rukavina, a longtime steelworker whose son, Tom, is in the Minnesota House of Representatives. … Read full story
