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Daschle Plans
Position for Mondale
By
The Associated Press
NY Times, October 31, 2002
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will appoint Democratic Senate
candidate Walter Mondale to his leadership team if Mondale wins next
week's election.
``Senator Daschle feels that Vice President Mondale's almost
unparalleled experience would be a valuable voice as a member of his
leadership team,'' Daschle's spokesman, Jay Carson, said Thursday.
The decision by Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, gives Mondale a
chit in his campaign against Republican candidate Norm Coleman, who
has argued that his close ties to the White House would pay off for
Minnesota.
Mondale would be one of about 10 Democrats in Daschle's inner
circle.
``It's his closest advisory team within the caucus,'' Carson
said. ``It's a group with which Senator Daschle confers about ideas
and proposals, and message and policy.''
Mondale, 74, is taking over the race of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who
was killed in a plane crash last week. Wellstone, who challenged his
party on some issues, did not serve on its Senate leadership team.
But Rudy Boschwitz, a Republican who held the Senate seat for two
terms before losing to Wellstone in 1990, said the real power lies
with committee chairs and elected party leadership posts, such as
the party whip.
Mondale's seniority status in the Senate, which helps determine committee
assignments, is still unclear. Carson said that Mondale's 12 years
of service, from 1964 to 1976, would be factored in, but it was too
soon to say where he would rank. |
