Franken Announces Run For Senate
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posted by Bob at Thursday, February 15, 2007
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14 Comments:
Franken makes run official
The veteran comic hopes to win over voters by assuring them he takes the issues 'deadly seriously'
BY RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
Pioneer Press
CHRIS POLYDOROFF, Pioneer Press
St. Louis Park native Al Franken formally announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Norm Coleman on his last radio show Wednesday in Minneapolis.Comedian Al Franken has spent most of his adult life being funny. Now Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Franken is out to convince Minnesotans he is serious.
"Minnesotans have a right to be skeptical about whether I'm ready for this challenge, and to wonder how seriously I would take the responsibility that I'm asking you to give me," Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer, said in a campaign video released Wednesday. "I may be a comedian by trade, but I'm passionate about the issues that matter to your family because they mattered to mine, too."
Moments after Franken announced on his Air America radio show that he would take on Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman in the 2008 election, he told reporters: "I take this deadly seriously."
But even Wednesday, Franken, who grew up in St. Louis Park and Albert Lea, couldn't keep from cracking a few jokes and acting as if he hadn't yet decided whether he would throw his hat into the political ring during breaks on his radio show.
"I'm pretending I haven't decided yet," he told John Dickerson, a political writer for Slate.com and a frequent guest on Franken's show, during one break.
"I'm going to have to decide during this break, or maybe the next break," he told reporters a few minutes before he officially announced his run on the air.
There was reason to keep the long-expected announcement somewhat quiet until Wednesday, the end of his show's three-year run. Once Franken officially became a candidate, his airtime on Air America could be considered a campaign contribution.
Franken is expected to get contributions aplenty from people who support his left-leaning politics.
The 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota is expected to be at least a $30 million affair, and Franken, who raised more than $1 million for Democratic candidates in 2006, is able to tap into national Democratic money streams.
"He is one of the best-known Minnesotans both in the state and around the country. … He is a guy who will raise a lot of money for the campaign, and he will excite Democrats," said University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs. "The question is whether he will scare independent and moderate voters."
In the past three decades, Franken has given his opponents a lot of material.
"He's a researcher's dream," said Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey. An hour after Franken's announcement, Carey had pages of quotes ready.
Franken has a long record of saying things most politicians would not — from using four-letter words to discussing past drug use to downplaying his ability to hold office.
Asked by a Playboy interviewer in 2004 whether he ever saw himself holding office, Franken said: "I would be crushed by the sense of responsibility. Voting on whether to authorize the use of force is a big decision, especially on a close call. I don't know if I could handle that. That's what you're doing when you elect someone: You're giving them the opportunity to handle it."
Later that year, a Pioneer Press/Minnesota Public Radio poll found that 57 percent of likely Minnesota voters said they would pick Coleman in 2008, while 29 percent supported Franken.
Since then, a lot has changed.
Franken moved from New York to Minnesota in 2005, bringing his radio show with him, and hit the hustings for other candidates while building his own political credibility.
In his show and humor books recently, Franken, who got his comedic start at Minneapolis' Brave New Workshop, has taken on serious subjects like the war on Iraq, health care and national politics.
The political winds also have changed for Coleman since he squeezed out a narrow victory over former Vice President Walter Mondale after Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone's fatal plane crash in 2002.
Four years later, Minnesotans had soured on Republican officeholders. In November, voters elected Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar over Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy by a 20 percentage-point margin. They also handed Democratic-Farmer-Laborites sizable majorities in the state House and Senate and ousted U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht in favor of Democrat Tim Walz.
Coleman's campaign was mum about the Franken announcement Wednesday.
Before Franken can face off against Coleman, he likely will have to grapple with challenges from members of his own party.
Trial lawyer and 2000 Senate candidate Mike Ciresi is preparing for a Senate bid. State Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, also is seriously considering a run. And frequent candidate Dick Franson is in the race.
Franken plans to abide by the DFL party's endorsement. That means he would drop out of the race if DFL activists opted for someone else at their party convention in 2008.
Even on that subject, he cracked a joke Wednesday.
"Unless I find out something fishy went on," Franken said, letting out a deep laugh. "Then I won't abide."
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger can be reached at rstassen-berger@pioneerpress.com.
A
T A GLANCE
Name: Al Franken
Age: 55 (born May 25, 1951)
Hometown: Born in New York City, raised in St. Louis Park
Education: Bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University
Experience: Writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live," 1975-1980 and 1985-1995. Author of several books, including "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations" (1996) and "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" (2003). Host of "The Al Franken Show" on Air America Radio, 2004-2007.
Family: Wife, Franni; daughter, Thomasin, 26; son, Joe, 21.
Web site: www.alfranken.com
Recent Comments
because he has name recognition this means we should vote for him?...
YUK!!!
I'd rather have a funny Franken than a Coleman waffle.
At least Franken has personality, unlike Norm "Mayor Quimby"...
"Deadly seriously," or seriously dead ?
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Post Your Comment
Another f'ing idiot thinking they can be a great politician and lead the world. I don't see a great deal of difference between him and Sharon and Bill.
At least in stability.
Franken is full of that yuky stuff that gives Libs that smelly gas.
bring respirators if you go to one of his speechs.
He's no Schwarzenegger, Bono or Eastwood. I've heard what he is for and against and I don't think he has what it takes, even in liberal Minnesota, to grab any seat unless he's pulling it out from his subject.
Hi Bob, I know you like Ann too. I feel like there's something that just isn't too "kosher" about this guy and all who "mysteriously" bow to him.
Jonathan Livingston Obama
By Ann Coulter
Posted: February 14, 2007
6:00 p.m. Eastern
I've caught Obama fever! Obamamania, Obamarama, Obama, Obama, Obama. (I just pray to God this is clean, renewable electricity I'm feeling.)
Only white guilt could explain the insanely hyperbolic descriptions of Obama's "eloquence." His speeches are a run-on string of embarrassing, sophomoric Hallmark bromides.
In announcing his candidacy last week, Obama confirmed that he believes in "the basic decency of the American people." And let the chips fall where they may!
Obama forthrightly decried "a smallness of our politics" – deftly slipping a sword into the sides of the smallness-in-politics advocates. (To his credit, he somehow avoided saying, "My fellow Americans, size does matter.")
He took a strong stand against the anti-hope crowd, saying: "There are those who don't believe in talking about hope." Take that, Hillary!
Most weirdly, he said: "I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness in this – a certain audacity – to this announcement."
What is so audacious about announcing that you're running for president? Any idiot can run for president. Dennis Kucinich is running for president. Until he was imprisoned, Lyndon LaRouche used to run for president constantly. John Kerry ran for president. Today, all you have to do is suggest a date by which U.S. forces in Iraq should surrender, and you're officially a Democratic candidate for president.
Obama made his announcement surrounded by hundreds of adoring Democratic voters. And those were just the reporters. There were about 400 more reporters at Obama's announcement than Mitt Romney's, who, by the way, is more likely to be sworn in as our next president than B. Hussein Obama.
Obama has locked up the Hollywood money. Even Miss America has endorsed Obama. (John "Two Americas" Edwards is still hoping for the other Miss America to endorse him.)
But Obama tells us he's brave for announcing that he's running for president. And if life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
I don't want to say that Obama didn't say anything in his announcement, but afterward, even Jesse Jackson was asking, "What did he say?" There was one refreshing aspect to Obama's announcement: It was nice to see a man call a press conference this week to announce something other than he was the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby.
B. Hussein Obama's announcement also included this gem: "I know that I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change." As long as Obama insists on using Hallmark card greetings in his speeches, he could at least get Jesse Jackson to help him with the rhyming.
If Obama's biggest asset is his inexperience, then if by the slightest chance he were elected and were to run for a second term, he will have to claim he didn't learn anything the first four years.
There was also this inspirational nugget: "Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more, and it is time for our generation to answer that call." Is this guy running for president or trying to get people to switch to a new long-distance provider?
He said that "we learned to disagree without being disagreeable." (There goes Howard Dean's endorsement.) This was an improvement on the first draft, which read, "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."
This guy's like the ANWR of trite political aphorisms. There's no telling exactly how many he's sitting on, but it could be in the billions.
Obama's famed eloquence reminds me of a book of platitudes I read about once called "Life Lessons." The book contained such inspiring thoughts as:
"When was the last time you really looked at the sea? Or smelled the morning? Touched a baby's hair? Really tasted and enjoyed food? Walked barefoot in the grass? Looked in the blue sky?" (When was the last time you fantasized about dismembering the authors of a book of platitudes?)
I can't wait for Obama's inaugural address when he reveals that he loves long walks in the rain, sunsets and fresh-baked cookies shaped like puppies.
The guy I feel sorry for is Harold Ford. The former representative from Tennessee is also black, a Democrat, about the same age as Obama, and is every bit as attractive. The difference is, when he talks, you don't fantasize about plunging knitting needles into your ears to stop the gusher of meaningless platitudes.
Ford ran as a Democrat in Republican Tennessee and almost won – and the press didn't knock out his opponent for him by unsealing sealed divorce records, as it did for B. Hussein Obama. Yet no one ever talks about Ford as the second coming of Cary Grant and Albert Einstein.
Maybe liberals aren't secret racists expunging vast stores of white guilt by hyperventilating over B. Hussein Obama. Maybe they're just running out of greeting card inscriptions.
Ann Coultergeist! I think they should drop her off in Baghdad and let Bush's daughters go rescue her...
Ooooh, I think a dentist wouldn't be able to hit that kind of nerve. It's rather amusing that those, with a liberal opinion, have to shout and detest other opinions so much. Chill out, it was tastefully exposed. Be totally aghast if you will, the truth will be told.
World
Corruption, Bribery Leave Ordinary Russians Aghast
by Gregory Feifer
Morning Edition, February 1, 2007 · Bribery is now so endemic in Russia that some experts think it's a necessary part of the economy. But for many ordinary citizens, the fraud and corruption they see all around them is a source of frustration and embarrassment
The Real Al Franken
NewsMax Staff
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007
Reprint Information
The Real Al Franken
Al Franken Confirms Planned Senate Run
Comedian Al Franken did his final radio show on Air America on Wednesday and announced that he's seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.
Now that Franken has tossed his hat in the ring, reporters around the country can expect some juicy quotes from the candidate-to-be. Franken is known, among other things, for making outrageous remarks:
Said Karl Rove and Lewis Libby should be "executed"
Said Rush Limbaugh was a "big fat idiot"
Stated that the founder of Air America was a "crook"
Franken also threatened to sue author Peter Schweizer who wrote about Franken's hypocrisy on hiring minorities.
Franken is also known for some contempible behavior, notably his admission that he misled and tried to trick then-Attorney General John Ashcroft into confiding his pre-marriage sexual history to Franken for a book, going so far as to write to Ashcroft on letterhead from Harvard University's Shorenstein Center for Press and Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, where Franken was a fellow for one term.
"Don't be afraid to share a moment when you were tempted to have sex, but were able to overcome your urges," wrote Franken, adding, "Did a young woman ever think you were homosexual?"
Franken also famously declared war on the New York Post because reporter Vincent Morris wrote that Franken had "body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground after the man tried to shout down" presidential candidate Howard Dean.
The erstwhile talker denied the report, saying he only held the man for authorities, but he did body slam what he called the "right-wing echo chamber" for reporting Morris' story.
Campaign Quotables?
NewsMax also uncovered some other comments the 55-year-old former "Saturday Night Live" performer has made over the years: "The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover."
— Franken's book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them"
"Here's a tool I think we should consider keeping on the table — torture." — Franken quoted in the book "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy" by Peter Schweizer.
"When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both."
— Franken's book "Oh, the Things I Know"
"No child left behind is the most ironically named piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act."
— speech at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2003
"There's no liberal echo chamber in this country. There's a right-wing echo chamber. I want to create a countervailing echo chamber."
— interview with the Chicago Tribune
"In 1945 Frank Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Fanny Brice, and Danny Kaye all performed. This year it's me. We do live in an era of diminished expectations."
— address at the 1994 White House Correspondents Dinner
"I say if you're a senator and you've got a drinking problem that's got you in trouble, don't use it as an excuse. Come out like a man and say I've done some things I'm not proud of . . . and then simply leave it up to the people of Massachusetts."
— White House Correspondents Dinner
Isn't newsmax a conservative publication? The test is to look through the headlines for anything positive about Left or Democrats. You won't find it.
It's like a liberal quoting Buzzflash.com You'll find no headlines there giving credit to the Right or the President.
I'd rather not see A Democracy become a cesspool of Left vs Right clippings that never seem to accomplish anything but the occassional zinger- until the next post.
Ann Coulture? C'mon. She is basically suggesting that Obama is only popular because White people feel guilty. Isn't that a bit racist? Pat Buchanan ran for President as a Conservative and never got that, though he only held office for ZERO years before that. His background is writing speeches for Nixon and Reagan- no politics and no policy. Other recent Republican with no Federal experience: Gary Bauer, David Duke, George W. Bush (four years as Governor with zero foreign policy experience- not even during Vietnam) and Alan Keyes.
As far as Obama's 3 years in the Senate, Lincoln served two years in the House ten years before he was nominated for President.
Reprinted from Pioneer Press
Franken makes run official
The veteran comic hopes to win over voters by assuring them he takes the issues 'deadly seriously'
BY RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
Pioneer Press
CHRIS POLYDOROFF, Pioneer Press
St. Louis Park native Al Franken formally announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Norm Coleman on his last radio show Wednesday in Minneapolis.Comedian Al Franken has spent most of his adult life being funny. Now Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Franken is out to convince Minnesotans he is serious.
"Minnesotans have a right to be skeptical about whether I'm ready for this challenge, and to wonder how seriously I would take the responsibility that I'm asking you to give me," Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer, said in a campaign video released Wednesday. "I may be a comedian by trade, but I'm passionate about the issues that matter to your family because they mattered to mine, too."
Moments after Franken announced on his Air America radio show that he would take on Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman in the 2008 election, he told reporters: "I take this deadly seriously."
But even Wednesday, Franken, who grew up in St. Louis Park and Albert Lea, couldn't keep from cracking a few jokes and acting as if he hadn't yet decided whether he would throw his hat into the political ring during breaks on his radio show.
"I'm pretending I haven't decided yet," he told John Dickerson, a political writer for Slate.com and a frequent guest on Franken's show, during one break.
"I'm going to have to decide during this break, or maybe the next break," he told reporters a few minutes before he officially announced his run on the air.
There was reason to keep the long-expected announcement somewhat quiet until Wednesday, the end of his show's three-year run. Once Franken officially became a candidate, his airtime on Air America could be considered a campaign contribution.
Franken is expected to get contributions aplenty from people who support his left-leaning politics.
The 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota is expected to be at least a $30 million affair, and Franken, who raised more than $1 million for Democratic candidates in 2006, is able to tap into national Democratic money streams.
"He is one of the best-known Minnesotans both in the state and around the country. … He is a guy who will raise a lot of money for the campaign, and he will excite Democrats," said University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs. "The question is whether he will scare independent and moderate voters."
In the past three decades, Franken has given his opponents a lot of material.
"He's a researcher's dream," said Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey. An hour after Franken's announcement, Carey had pages of quotes ready.
Franken has a long record of saying things most politicians would not — from using four-letter words to discussing past drug use to downplaying his ability to hold office.
Asked by a Playboy interviewer in 2004 whether he ever saw himself holding office, Franken said: "I would be crushed by the sense of responsibility. Voting on whether to authorize the use of force is a big decision, especially on a close call. I don't know if I could handle that. That's what you're doing when you elect someone: You're giving them the opportunity to handle it."
Later that year, a Pioneer Press/Minnesota Public Radio poll found that 57 percent of likely Minnesota voters said they would pick Coleman in 2008, while 29 percent supported Franken.
Since then, a lot has changed.
Franken moved from New York to Minnesota in 2005, bringing his radio show with him, and hit the hustings for other candidates while building his own political credibility.
In his show and humor books recently, Franken, who got his comedic start at Minneapolis' Brave New Workshop, has taken on serious subjects like the war on Iraq, health care and national politics.
The political winds also have changed for Coleman since he squeezed out a narrow victory over former Vice President Walter Mondale after Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone's fatal plane crash in 2002.
Four years later, Minnesotans had soured on Republican officeholders. In November, voters elected Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar over Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy by a 20 percentage-point margin. They also handed Democratic-Farmer-Laborites sizable majorities in the state House and Senate and ousted U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht in favor of Democrat Tim Walz.
Coleman's campaign was mum about the Franken announcement Wednesday.
Before Franken can face off against Coleman, he likely will have to grapple with challenges from members of his own party.
Trial lawyer and 2000 Senate candidate Mike Ciresi is preparing for a Senate bid. State Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, also is seriously considering a run. And frequent candidate Dick Franson is in the race.
Franken plans to abide by the DFL party's endorsement. That means he would drop out of the race if DFL activists opted for someone else at their party convention in 2008.
Even on that subject, he cracked a joke Wednesday.
"Unless I find out something fishy went on," Franken said, letting out a deep laugh. "Then I won't abide."
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger can be reached at rstassen-berger@pioneerpress.com.
A
T A GLANCE
Name: Al Franken
Age: 55 (born May 25, 1951)
Hometown: Born in New York City, raised in St. Louis Park
Education: Bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University
Experience: Writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live," 1975-1980 and 1985-1995. Author of several books, including "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations" (1996) and "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" (2003). Host of "The Al Franken Show" on Air America Radio, 2004-2007.
Family: Wife, Franni; daughter, Thomasin, 26; son, Joe, 21.
Web site: www.alfranken.com
Recent Comments
Best of luck in your effort. Republicans wonder why Social...
Al Franken is funny, but he's also very very smart. He'll make a...
Mo Udall wrote a book, I believe, entitled Too Funny to be...
WHEN DID MR. FRANKEN LAST VOTE AND WHERE DID HE CAST THAT BALLOT?...
If elected, he wouldn't be the 1st fool who fooled Minnesota. ...
LOOK AT THIS post below from a topic down a bit. A real liberal at work, let's increase our taxes in saint paul v. but let's not support our troops overseas. We need more firing power and police presence v. let's get out of iraq and cut off funding for our men and women overseas. There was a gang member shooting v. there are terrorist flying planes into American buildings and planning more attacks. Let's combine saint paul and minneapolis v. let's go global and combine canada the U.S and mexico. How about we get real and investigate and control crime with some good old-fashioned police and local government work and stop harrassing the innocent people of saint paul. By the way, you want to raise taxes through the roof for more cops? Why don't we have them do their job and stop the WWB and fake raids on the rights of the people!
copy and paste:
Mayor Chris Coleman is a wonderful mayor. I think his tax policy is the bomb. I think our taxes are way too small and we should be giving more back to the city for the services we receive.
Look at Minneapolis, they get very high taxes and look at the police service they get. I think they are up to 7 or 8 murders this year. This is not bad compared to other parts of the country. With this trend Minneapolis is set to breat the 100 mark for murders in a year.
Both Rybak and Coleman are doing a wonderful job. With their team work, why not merge Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Why in St. Paul recently we had a gang member shoot up the hood and it took a police officer with his own personal AR15 to stop this mad man. Coleman and Rybak want more tax dollars for public safety, but they are unwilling to spend this money on public safety. Had this police officer not had his personal AR15, he would have been out gunned as he only had a shotgun and a handgun to protect himself and these were no match for what the gang member had.
Coleman and Rybak need to invest in public safety and lock up the real bad guys.
9:46 AM
Coleman and Rybak
wouldn't lock themselves up.
We should.
It would start a new trend.
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