Al Franken Gets Democratic Endorsement in Minnesota Senate Race
It's official: There's a big, fat U.S. Senate race underway in Minnesota, now that actor, comedian, and radio host Al Franken has been endorsed by state Democrats to take on incumbent Republican Norm Coleman.
Franken attended a unity event Monday morning at the state Capitol in St. Paul after he captured the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's endorsement at its weekend convention in Rochester, said Andy Barr, a Franken spokesman. Many nonpartisan analysts call the race a tossup, even though Franken has never held public office. Coleman, a first-term senator, is a former mayor of St. Paul and former Democrat. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, other members of Minnesota congressional delegation, and the college professor whom Franken beat in the endorsement contest will be on hand at the Capitol, Barr said.
Next, Franken launches a four-day campaign swing across Minnesota that concludes Thursday night with a rally in Minneapolis, he said. "We win by talking about the issues and Norm Coleman's record," Barr said. "Coleman spent six years selling out the families of Minnesota to the special interests and the Bush administration."
Franken has been dogged in recent weeks by tax problems and by past writings he now admits were sometimes "inappropriate" and "downright offensive." In accepting the endorsement, he remarked: "I'm not a perfect person. And I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers. But I'll tell the truth. I will keep my spine, and I will work for you."
The Coleman camp answered Franken's endorsement with a statement from its campaign manager, Cullen Sheehan, who said: "The comedian turned satirist turned politician turned apologist has now exposed himself for what he really is: unqualified, unfit, and unprepared to be a United States senator."
—Katherine Skiba
Reader Comments
Prepare to get your clock cleaned Norm
Yes, this may be a tight race. However, it comes at a time of an unpopular war in Iraq and a time of mounting cries for universal health care. Remember how a second rate actor with great TV presence was swept into office in 1980. Al Franken has far superior wit and the complexities of political understanding than did Reagan without the senility. Go ahead....underestimate him. Unlike the deep south, Minnesotans are intelligent. I can't wait for election night.
Senator Norm Coleman has been criticized for marching lock-step with the Bush Administration; as if this was a bad thing. Aside from our strong Bush economy, consider our position in the world with respect to foreign affairs. What Sen. Coleman understands and Al Franken does not is the point that it is immaterial that the world has come to hate and fear the United States under the Bush/Coleman years. Rather, the operative word if fear. That's the point. Never, since the triumphs of the Third Reich in Europe in the late 1930s has a country been feared like the United States. This is power and this is what we must maintain. Vote for Senator Norm Coleman and help continue this magnificant role for these United States.
Al Franken for Congress?
Now the liberal loonies in Minnesota have become even loonier than should be permitted, even in a free society. Al Franken, for congress, huh? Franken is but a comedian and an acerbic, mean spirited, misguided one at that. If that's what congress needs, I think Laurel and Hardy would have been a better choice for congress. Or maybe Lucille Ball.
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