PAUL WELLSTONE Born: July 21, 1944, Arlington Va. Personal: Married to Sheila. Three children, David, Marcia, and Mark. Education: Graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and earned a Ph.D. in Political Science, 1969, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Political background: Elected U.S. Senate, 1990.

Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash on Friday, Oct. 25, in northern Minnesota. His wife, daughter and five others were also killed.

Wellstone was born in Washington, D.C., and resides in St. Paul, Minn. He received a bachelor's degree in 1965 and a doctorate in political science in 1969 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was a professor of political science at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., 1969-90. While teaching at Carleton, he was a spokesman for farmers who opposed Reagan administration policies. He wrote two books on community organizing in Minnesota. He was elected to the Democratic National Committee in 1984 and was re-elected in 1988. He was a leader of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in Minnesota in 1988 and later worked for Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis' campaign in the state.

Wellstone was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1990 and re-elected in 1996. In 2001, he wrote another book, "The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming the Compassionate Agenda." In 2002, he announced he had been diagnosed with a mild form of multiple sclerosis. He and his wife, Sheila, had three children.

Profile

Sen. Paul Wellstone, who was locked in a tough re-election campaign with former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, was killed in a plane crash on Friday, Oct. 25, in northern Minnesota.

It was immediately unclear if his name would remain on the ballot for the general election.

Wellstone ousted Republican Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in 1990 by campaigning in a repainted, back-firing converted school bus and bunking with supporters when on the road. He described his bid to unseat Boschwitz as "David vs. Goliath," and said his low budget forced him to come up with creative TV commercials. In the "Looking for Rudy" ad, Wellstone was shown in a madcap effort to engage Boschwitz in a debate. After his election, he promised not to seek more than two terms in office.

Wellstone got off to a disastrous start in Washington, angering Vietnam veterans when he staged a news conference in front of the Vietnam memorial. By the end of his first year in office, he had shown some evidence of gaining respectability, according to both Democratic and Republican colleagues. Wellstone played a role in organizing opposition to a national energy policy that was strongly opposed by environmentalists, and maintained a solidly liberal voting record.

In 1996, Wellstone easily won re-election in a rematch with Boschwitz. Wellstone viewed the election results as a mandate for his in-your-face style of populism. "People were saying, `We think Senator Wellstone that you'll be in there pitching for us,'" Wellstone said.

In 1997, Wellstone was on the run all year, trying to raise his national profile and assessing his chances as a candidate for president in 2000. His national poverty tour, which started in Mississippi where he retraced a 1967 trip by Robert Kennedy, brought some national media attention, of which he had little previously. He also made several policy speeches to university audiences and addressed numerous state party and labor gatherings.

Wellstone, who had been critical of the Clinton administration's centrist philosophy, set himself up as an alternative to Vice President Al Gore in much the same way another Minnesota senator, Eugene McCarthy, challenged Lyndon Johnson in 1968. He became the first candidate to set up an exploratory committee. While viewed as a long shot, he was warmly received by party and union activists in New Hampshire and Iowa _ a stop in New Hampshire in November left him feeling "very optimistic," he said.

In 1999, Wellstone announced he would not run for president, saying his bad back could not stand up to the rigors of a presidential campaign. But he remained active in the presidential race, campaigning actively for Democratic candidate Bill Bradley, who gave Vice President Al Gore a scare in the Democratic primary.

In his second term, Wellstone focused on providing getting health insurance equal treatment for mental illness, an effort President Bush endorsed in 2001; fighting for more money for special education; and succeeded in getting more money to combat homelessness among veterans. He and Gov. Jesse Ventura squabbled on and off, with both men at different points talking about running for the other's job. Ventura quickly announced he had no interest in running for Senate, while Wellstone decided to break his two-term pledge and run for re-election, claiming that the stakes were too high for him to walk away.

When the Democrats took over the Senate in 2001, Wellstone became chairman of two subcommittees: The Health subcommittee on Employment, Safety and Training, and the Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. In addition, to help with his re-election campaign, Democrats named Wellstone to the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Wellstone came out against a resolution authorizing the president to use military force against Iraq, saying he could only support a resolution that worked through the United Nations. Alone among Democrats facing tough re-election campaigns to take this position, Wellstone realized the issue could hurt him in his race with Coleman, who supported the resolution.

Campaigns

Paul Wellstone was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1990, ousting incumbent Republican Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, 50 percent to 48 percent. He defeated Boschwitz more handily in 1996, 50 percent to 41 percent. In 2002, he is facing the former mayor of St. Paul, Norm Coleman, who was tapped by the White House to take on Wellstone. Polls showed the two locked in a close race.

Wellstone made his first bid for public office in 1982 with an unsuccessful run for state auditor. He lost to Republican incumbent Arne Carlson, garnering 45 percent of the vote to 55 percent for Carlson.