In a country evenly divided politically, every vote counts. This documentary films the last three weeks of the 2002 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota. Through interviews with pundits, media, ordinary citizens,
the film shows a state which becomes a model in democracy for the nation;a model we sorely need this Presidential election year. Minnesota fields incumbent Democrat Paul Wellstone against Republican Norm Coleman, handpicked by Dick Cheney and supported by the White House. This race is one of six close ones which will dictate the majority in the Senate, barely held by the Democrats 50 to 49.
The candidates have been neck and neck for fifteen months when Wellstone begins to pull ahead, in part because of his vote against George Bush’s resolution to go to war in Iraq, just as he had voted against Bush Sr.’s Gulf War. Days before the election, Wellstone’s campaign plane goes down killing the senator, his wife, daughter and three staffers. After a period of mourning capped by a controversial Memorial Service, the Democrats put erstwhile Vice President Walter Mondale on the ticket in Wellstone’s place. And President George Bush makes his fourth visit to stump for Coleman two days before the election. In the midst of grief and battles over absentee ballots, Minnesota struggles to prove it is not another Florida. Narrated by Peter Coyote.
Official Selection at:
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Missoula, MT, February 2005
Carolina Film Festival Greensboro, NC, February 2005
Oxford Film Festival Oxford, Mississippi, September, 2005
Northern Lights Documentary Film Festival Newburyport, Massachusetts, October 2005-12-07
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Fort Lauderdale, FLA, October 2005-12-07
Get Real Film Festival (by invitation) City Pages Minneapolis, MN, November 2005
Special Screening, Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA, November 2005
Boulder International Film Festival Boulder, CO, February 2006
Audience Choice Film Festival Hobart, IN May, 2006
Spirit and Place Festival Indianapolis, November, 2006
The Green Bus v. The White House, our documentary on Paul Wellstone's last campaign, 2002, and his fateful death in a plane crash, was featured on FreeSpeechTV three times during 2005. www.freespeechtv.org.
This channel is available on the Dish Network.
