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2002-10-25 | 3:19 p.m.

Duff just told me that Paul Wellstone, the liberal senator from Minnesota, was killed in a plane crash with his wife and daughter.

Wellstone was one of the good guys in the Senate. It's a very short list.

MoveOn.org recently donated about 500K to the Wellstone campaign. He was fighting hard to get re-elected this week. Minnesota goes to the polls in eleven days.

Two years ago, you'll recall, it was Mel Carnahan of St. Louis. One by one, the great Midwest liberals are dying in light plane crashes. Already the conspiracy theorists are trying to pin it all on the Republicans.

Duff also told me that Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies, died today of Hodgkin's disease. I thought he did a creditable job with the part and will be sorry to see another actor take it on.

Nor was the old man ready to go. Just a couple of days ago, he threatened Chris Columbus in language the director declined to repeat if he so much as contemplated re-casting the role.

It's too bad, really. Everybody's got to go sometime, I know, but the timing isn't always convenient for them or us.

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