Earlier this week Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison took to the floor of the House of Representatives to speak in anticipation of the anniversary of the death of the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. Ellison recalled:

It was a long night, Mr. Speaker, when we heard back the reports as the news reports said that a plane has gone down in Ely, Minnesota, and it was thought to be containing Paul Wellstone and his partner, Sheila Wellstone, and their daughter and several other campaigners. We hoped all night that what we thought might have happened didn't happen, but at the end of the evening, we learned that that tragedy, in fact, did occur. Our worst fears were confirmed when we learned that we lost him, but it was a long several hours before we realized that that tragedy had actually occurred, and we had hoped against hope. I will never forget that night.

However, as Bob Collins comments:

Wellstone's plane took off at around 8 in the morning, it crashed about an hour later, and Jeff Blodgett announced his death a few hours after that. Here's a link to the page I put together at the time, which includes audio from dozens of politicians on the same day....when -- I must point out -- the sun was up.

Here's the video of Ellison's comments on the floor of the House.

Night? A long night?

And the plane went down in Ely, Minnesota, which will come as a big surprise to the folks in Eveleth-Virginia.

I figure maybe he was in Australia at the time, but he says in the speech he was to visit Wellstone in the office the same day, so he must've been in the same time zone.

If you're going to make a heartfelt tribute, you've got to get the basic facts right.

My take is that it's all part of the Ellison hustle.