Today Al Franken officially joined the race for US Senate from Minnesota to contest the seat currently held by Republican (former Democrat) Norm Coleman. Coleman, you might remember, was elected days after proud Minnesota progressive Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. From the wreakage of his impending defeat at the hands of the firey Wellstone, Coleman wrested a narrow victory over DFL lion and former Vice President Walter Mondale, who took Wellstone's place on the ticket. Now Franken becomes the first DFLer to join the race to take back what is rightfully ours.
In my conversations with DFL activists and members of the Minnesota Legislature, opinions on the Franken candidacy are mixed. Everyone likes Franken as an activist, but some are concerned that he will not be taken seriously enough by voters. This is certainly a valid concern, especially given Norm's strength on the stump, but I believe the concern is overblown. With the exception of Keith Ellison, many of the candidates garnering the support of party activists in multi-party contests tend to lack a certain fire, even though they tend to be strong on issues of progressive policy. And let's not forget the willingness of Minnesotans to choose unconventional candidates.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
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3 comments:
Let's not forget that Norm Coleman lost a bid for governor to Jesse the Mind. He has experience losing to "unconventional candidates."
This "is Franken serious enough?" seems, early on, to be a prominent attack which Norm will use to undermine Franken. When Franken went down to Ohio in support of Sherrod Brown's Senate campaign, the Republicans sent a photo to the press featuring Franken in an adult diaper (like the crazy Astronaut!) and giant bunny ears. I believe I read that the photo was doctored. Besides being despicable, one wonders if they couldn't find an authentic, yet suitably embarrassing, photo of a guy who once worked for Saturday Night Live.
Ben, I think your home state does not get the recognition it deserves for being on the political cutting edge. They were the first state to elect an actor from the movie Predator to state-wide office, yet California gets all the press. Now they are the first to elect a Muslim to Congress. It must be Al Franken's turn.
Franken is just looking for an opportunity to write another book.
His next one will be about running for office.
Didn't he already do that and isn't it called "Why Not Me?" Sure its satirical, but whatever.
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