For Catholics, Friday was All Saints Day and Saturday was All Souls Day, sacred days to remind us of our mortality.

Masses said on those days are for departed ones who lived saintly, or at least decent, lives before passing over. A priest officiating at a downtown Cincinnati church said Friday we should celebrate unrecognized saints, people who in their everyday lives sought charity, peace, justice.

My thoughts turned to Sen. Paul Wellstone, the Minnesota Democrat who died Oct. 25 with his wife and six others in a plane crash.

I don't know if Mr. Wellstone was a saint; only God knows that. But I know he stood for charity, peace and justice - often in the face of big-moneyed and politically powerful opponents.

He was a rarity in Washington, an activist/politician whose 1960s beliefs never faded and who championed causes of the poor and working class, sometimes alone. He leaned against a tide of increasingly conservative Republicans and increasingly docile, middle-grounded Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Broken mold

They don't make politicians like Mr. Wellstone anymore.

Before gaining his Senate seat in an upset victory in 1990, Mr. Wellstone was a college professor who organized anti-war protests, welfare-rights rallies and projects to help farmers, the homeless, abused women and children.

As a new senator, he used his first visit to the White House to chide then-President George Bush for seeking war against Iraq. President Bush reportedly called him the colloquial term for poultry droppings.

Ten years and two terms later, Washington hadn't tamed Sen. Wellstone. Recently he voted with only 22 other senators against giving President George W. Bush authorization to wage war with Iraq. Pundits and polls predicted that position could cost Sen. Wellstone his third term. We'll never know.

War wasn't the only battle pitting Mr. Wellstone against the majority.

Over the years he became the bane of drug manufacturers, financial services firms, energy companies, insurers and corporate lobbyists.

He employed direct and parliamentary ploys to protect the environment and stymie efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic.

His brother's mental illness, which financially drained his parents, compelled Mr. Wellstone to coauthor laws to force health insurers to cover mental illnesses like physical illnesses.

He forged bipartisan support to pass laws to punish the sex slave business and to help victims of torture. He championed the Family Leave Act.

He fought to keep consumer protections in bankruptcy law and to keep Social Security away from Wall Street.

He even fought tax rate reductions for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans (those with incomes of $300,000 or more annually.) Few politicians would take on such well-heeled constituents.

Last of a kind

Even his Washington foes agreed with the eulogies:

"Paul Wellstone was a courageous defender of his beliefs," said Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)

"Paul Wellstone was a stand-up guy. He used the power of his office for good," Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

Here in the Tristate there appear to be few Paul Wellstones.

Among the candidates seeking our votes in Tuesday's elections, few have publicly denounced a unilateral attack on Iraq. Few have proclaimed a sincere intent to challenge Big Business. One or two have promised to mend tears in our social safety nets.

So far our liberal candidates are too shy, too quiet.

Who can blame them in the face of so much political hegemony?

I'm praying for them, though, for some last-minute inspiration.

Email damos@enquirer.com or phone 768-8395.