Jeff Blodgett

My main advice is for you to think about problems you see in your community and then think about if you can do something about that. Like if your street needs to be cleaned up, can you help do that? If there is a family that needs help, can you help them? Remember, it's not just about ourselves; it's about us together. And that was what Paul Wellstone was about. This is what he used to say, "We all do better, when we all do better."

Jeff Blodgett

My name is Jeff Blodgett. I was born May 7, 1961, which makes me 46 years old. I was born in St. Paul, really close to here at the old Miller Hospital. When I was your age, actually, I moved from St. Paul, Minnesota to a place called Concord, Massachusetts.

Are you a baseball fan? It's a big baseball time because the Boston Red Sox are playing in the playoffs. So I became a Red Sox fan when we moved to Massachusetts.

I came back to Minnesota and went to college in Northfield at Carleton College. When I was at college I met someone who would become a close friend and someone who I would work with for many years. You know whom I'm talking about? Exactly, that's where I met Paul Wellstone; he was a teacher—professor of politics.

Paul would teach his students about politics and how people get involved in our democracy. I saw him go from being a teacher to someone who actually went out to try to get elected to office and change things instead of just teach others about it.

He called me up and said I want you to run my campaign for the United States Senate. So I did that, and he won the election. He got over a million people to vote for him!

Paul Wellstone was very passionate about equal rights and he was passionate about having a country where everyone does well and not only some people do well. He was not a boring guy.

When Senator Wellstone died in October 2002, it was very sad and very tragic because we lost a leader and we lost a friend. So myself and some others, including Paul Wellstone's two sons, set up an organization called Wellstone Action. We teach people to pick up where Paul and Sheila left off in their lives. Just like you have Wellstone Elementary School, we have an organization called Wellstone Action.

My mom and dad taught me that it’s important to think about your neighbors and helping other people. The other thing they taught me was how important education is, continuing to learn not just in school but even when you get out of school.

I’m married. My wife's name is Emily and we have two boys. Tim and Jack are my sons and we live in St. Paul. St. Paul's our home, just like it's your home too.