How did a fortysomething college professor and outspoken liberal activist manage to unseat from the Senate one of the nation’s most skillful politicians and money raisers? This engaging insiders' account of Paul Wellstone’s successful grassroots Senate campaign explains it all for you. Written by two political reporters for the Minneapolis StarTribune who covered the Wellstone campaign from its inception, Professor Wellstone Goes to Washington provides a revealing and evocative behind-the-scenes look at a memorable chapter in U.S. Senate campaign history.
When Paul Wellstone announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate at an inner-city community center in early 1989, no one thought he had a chance. His opponent, Republican Senator Rudy Boschwitz, was a popular politician and a celebrated master of the two most important skills of modern political campaigning, fundraising and television advertising. But to the surprise of many, Wellstone, a student of grassroots organizing techniques, succeeded in putting together a campaign that served as a harbinger and a model for the anti-establishment populism of the 1990s. He rode to an unbelievable victory as the only Senate challenger to defeat an incumbent that year.
Professor Wellstone Goes to Washington is must reading for anyone interested in American politics. It details the most stunning upset in Minnesota’s modern political history, and illustrates why Wellstone, whom Mother Jones magazine described as “the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate,” has become one of the Senate’s most notable, quotable, and controversial figures.
