Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone has been killed in a plane crash in the midwestern U-S state of Minnesota. The senator's wife, daughter, and several staff members were on board. U-S officials say none of the plane's eight passengers survived. The twin-engine turbo-prop plane went down Friday in freezing rain and light snow.
The 58-year-old Senator Wellstone had been traveling around Minnesota in advance of congressional elections on November Fifth.
President Bush said the U-S legislator was a plain-spoken man who did his best for his state and for his country.
Senator Wellstone was the son of Russian immigrants. He was born in Arlington, Virginia, and taught at Minnesota's Carleton College for more than 20 years. In 1990, he surprised the political establishment by unseating an incumbent senator. He was re-elected in 1996. This year, he was locked in a tight race against a Republican challenger.
Senator Wellstone was known for a solidly liberal voting record. Most recently, he placed one of the minority dissenting votes in the U-S Senate against a Congressional resolution authorizing President Bush to use force against Iraq.