WASHINGTON - When legislative director Brian Ahlberg closed down Paul Wellstone's office last December, he vowed to keep the late senator's causes alive.

This year, Ahlberg has found an outlet to do that, working as legislative director for another prairie populist Democrat, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.

Ahlberg, 45, is one of many "Wellstone People" working to carry out the late senator's progressive legacy a year after Wellstone was killed along with his wife, Sheila, their daughter Marcia, and five others.

From congressional offices to liberal advocacy groups, "Wellstone People" are advancing issues that Wellstone championed in his dozen years in the Senate.

"Tom (Harkin) has tried to include a Paul Wellstone perspective in what he's doing," said Ahlberg, a Wellstone staffer for nine years. Harkin has run with Wellstone issues such as battling President Bush's tax cuts and questioning policy on Iraq. On Friday, he made an impassioned plea for one of Wellstone's signature bills, equal health insurance coverage for mental illness.

Ahlberg said that although Wellstone and Harkin have similar political outlooks, their styles are very different.

While Wellstone was a scrapper who often used obstructionist tactics, Harkin uses the power that comes from being a senior member on key committee and subcommittees, Ahlberg said.

"Paul's passion and anger were on his sleeve," he said. "Tom's more measured."

Joining Ahlberg in Harkin's office is former Wellstone press secretary Allison Dobson, who's now working as Harkin's communications director.

"I wanted Paul to be proud of the work I was doing, and be proud of me," said Dobson, 26, who worked for Wellstone for 2 1/2 years.

Charlotte Oldham Moore, who was Wellstone's top foreign affairs staffer, said she's tried to keep true to her former boss's calling in her current job, as special counsel to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

"Paul was a voice for voiceless people. That commitment informs the work I do," said Oldham Moore, who works to protect government whistleblowers.

But she said she learned an equally important lesson from Wellstone that had nothing to do with politics.

"On a personal level, Paul taught me what it meant to be a deeply kind person," said Oldham Moore, 38, who worked 5 1/2 years for Wellstone. "He was kind to elevator operators, the people who picked up trash ... It's changed my life. What he's really remembered by is the tenderness and the love he gave people."

Wellstone's former chief of staff, Colin McGinnis, is now working as a consultant for International Orthodox Christian Charities, the humanitarian and relief arm of the Orthodox Church.

"I traveled abroad with him on a number of occasions," said McGinnis, 42. "Paul always thought human rights was something he might want to do after he left the Senate."

Marge Baker, who was Wellstone's top Health Committee staffer, said she's tried to carry on his opposition to President Bush's tax cuts in her new job. She works as staff director for People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group in Washington.

"I feel like I'm carrying Paul's passion for economic and social justice," said Baker, 54. "I feel Paul with me."

"Paul's mantra was you had to connect grassroots to legislative work," added Baker, who spent two years on Wellstone's staff. "At advocacy groups like ours, you can make that happen."

Other former staffers include Jim Farrell, who was Wellstone's communications director and now does the same for Planned Parenthood; Jill Morningstar, an education staffer who now works for the Children's Defense Fund; and Sarah Niemeyer, a senior aide who is now the Washington, D.C. director for the state of Wisconsin.

Some have taken the fight thousands of miles away. Jill Hickson, 33, a foreign affairs staffer for Wellstone until she left shortly before his death, works in Uzbekistan for a project called the Citizens' Rights Advocacy Network, teaching people how to organize in "true Wellstone style." The project is funded by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Hickson organizes people to press for more accountability in government, a decent income for farmers, and opportunities to get into business.

"I learned from the master how to do this, though the conditions are very, very different," Hickson said. "I am sure Paul would be proud of me."

© Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

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