Editing Paul Wellstone (section)

==Presidential aspirations==
Shortly after his reelection to the Senate in 1996, Wellstone began contemplating a run for his party's nomination for [[President of the United States]] in [[2000 United States presidential election|2000]]. In May 1997, he embarked on a cross-country speaking and listening tour dubbed "The Children's Tour." It took him through rural areas of [[Mississippi]] and [[Appalachia]] and the [[inner city|inner cities]] of [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]], [[Chicago]], [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], and [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]]. He intended to retrace the steps [[Robert F. Kennedy]] took during a similar tour in 1966, and to highlight the fact that conditions had improved slightly for African-Americans since the [[civil rights movement]], but not much for poor whites despite their dependency on food stamps, government jobs (military) and the massive federal investment in their regions, especially Appalachia.

In 1998, Wellstone formed an [[exploratory committee]] and a leadership [[Political Action Committee|PAC]], the Progressive Politics Network, that paid for his travels to [[Iowa]] and [[New Hampshire]], two early primary states in the nomination process. He spoke before [[organized labor]] and local Democrats, using the slogan "I represent the democratic wing of the Democratic Party." Vermont governor [[Howard Dean]] later incorporated that phrase into his stump speech in the [[Howard Dean presidential campaign, 2004|2004 US presidential election]].<ref name="startribune.com"/>

On January 9, 1999, Wellstone called a press conference at the [[Minnesota State Capitol]] at which he said he lacked the stamina necessary for a national campaign, citing chronic back problems he ascribed to an old wrestling injury. His pain was later diagnosed as [[multiple sclerosis]]. He thereafter endorsed former Senator [[Bill Bradley]] of [[New Jersey]], the only Democratic candidate to challenge Vice President [[Al Gore]].<ref name="startribune.com"/>