Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) announced today that he
has multiple sclerosis. News reports say that it
is "mild" and that although Wellstone has probably had MS for some time -- he
has been treated for symptoms that may well be attributed to it -- he has
only found out this week.
Like Jed Bartlet, the president on the NBC drama "The West Wing," like former
Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, and like former Attorney General
Janet Reno, who has Parkinson's Disease and who hopes to be governor of
Florida, Wellstone intends to continue in political life: he is not
withdrawing from what is expected to be a tough re-election campaign.
Wellstone, who was recently praised for his record on environmental
leadership, is one of five Democratic incumbents the GOP has taken aim at
recently, running ads in their home states accusing them of being partisan
when the nation should have been united. Democrats have responded by
asserting that the senators under attack have supported the president on many
key measures.
Whether or not the system of checks and balances in the federal government
should be weakened in times of national crisis, there is another issue at
stake in this year's elections: control of the Congress. Only a few
incumbents need to be unseated to give one or the other party a much stronger
position there.
Paul Wellstone's official website is http://www.senate.gov/~wellstone/
His statement about his disability can be read at http://www.wellstone.org/green/news/02-feb/MSstatement0224.html
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