'Getting Better Every Day': Mondale Makes 1st Public Appearance In 7 Weeks

ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- Former Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale made his first public appearance in seven weeks Tuesday.

Steady and strong sounding, he's back to teaching a class at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and he still has an edge. The former vice president is teaming up with one of the most conservative Republican members of Congress, James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin.

They are teaming up to call for an end to NSA surveillance of American phone records, computers and texts. Mondale called the surveillance "excessive" and "unpatriotic."

Mondale supports a bill that Sensenbrenner is trying to get passed that would cut back many of the domestic powers of the NSA. Sensenbrenner says the government should be able to collect a limited amount of information and still keep America safe.

It's the first time he's made a public appearance since the funeral of his wife, Joan Mondale, on Feb. 9. He had major heart bypass surgery two days later.

He told us after class he's feeling healthy, and just a little tired.

"It's amazing. A lot of people take the same therapy I am and getting better every day and so am I. (I'm) a little limited, but I am really on a solid path now, and I feel good about it," Mondale said.

Mondale said he misses his wife terribly.