Ever since the movie Fargo, the reputation of Minnesota has been sliding down a slippery slope. We are the land of bad accents, ice storms, the Mall of America, and yes, Jesse Ventura. I mean, how many states elect ex-wrestlers for their governors? And how many states’ only claim to fame is that they have the largest mall in the country?Minnesota was in the news again recently; we suffered a tragic loss when Senator Wellstone was killed.

What is really aggravating about his death is that people could not even mourn this great leader without criticism.

Wellstone was an amazing leader. He believed in women’s rights, helping the environment, bettering education, and improving health care. Wellstone greatly captured Minnesotan values; he was very liberal and involved in humanitarian causes.

During his memorial service on October 29, things turned sour when Democrat Rick Kahn, treasurer of Wellstone’s campaign, spoke. He told the Republican Senators and people to remember Wellstone when they cast their votes in the election, turning the whole service into a rally.

What angered many Minnesotans was the fact that Democrats got free air-time for a political rally.

Here is the thing – Wellstone was a Democrat, and to not include his values and beliefs during the service would be untrue to him. Sure, Kahn got carried away, but truth be told, he had little experience in public speaking. Not to mention the fact that he just lost one of his closest friends.

The Republicans do not realize how lucky they are. Democrats may have gotten three hours of free air-time for their campaign, but on the other hand, Wellstone will never come back.

Personally, I would trade all the free air-time just to have our former senator back.

I was disgusted when I saw how much controversy this was causing; Wellstone is dead, and people cannot even mourn for him without criticism.

Come on Minnesota, you claim to be devastated by losing him, yet you elect a Republican for the new senator; that seems to me to be very un-Wellstone.