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Category: Local • Politics
Posted on: February 1, 2007 8:19 AM, by PZ Myers
Go, Al! Franken will definitely be running for Coleman's senate position in 2008. This is promising: the Republicans are already upset.
After seeing an account of Franken's calls [to DFL leaders] on the Star Tribune website, Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey issued a statement criticizing Franken's "anger and slash-and-burn partisanship."
That's an excellent endorsement right there.
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Comments
If paritsanship means saying what you think and standing up for what you believe, then I am all for it.
Posted by: writerdddd | February 1, 2007 9:00 AM
I'm very excited about Al's candidacy -- I can't wait to get rid of that smarmey, hypocritical Norm Coleman. ("99% improvement" over Paul Wellstone? Shut up -- you are out of here!)
And surprise, surprise. All of a sudden Norm is being critical of Bush's surge in Iraq. Do you think he noticed how soundly Randy Kelly (D) was defeated as Mayor of St. Paul after Kelly endorsed Bush for President?
Coleman's scared and with good reason. Republicans running statewide in 2006 didn't do too well. Republican incumbents (Kiffmeyer, Anderson) in statewide offices were defeated and even looking at Pawlenty's (Republican governor of Minnesota) numbers in 2006 -- if it had been a 2 person race, Pawlenty would have gone down too.
Because Al's candidacy has been telegraphed for years, the RNC is prepared. It is not a coincidence that the Republicans picked Norm's home city of St. Paul for their national convention in 2008.
I personally will do everything I can to elect Al!
Posted by: Sonja | February 1, 2007 9:04 AM
YES! I love Al Franken! I used to live in Minnesota and have been considering transferring colleges to the U of M, now I almost have to.
Posted by: xenophobic | February 1, 2007 9:05 AM
Two words: Awe. Some. He'll be the only US senate candidate with paid joke writers on staff.
Posted by: Slippery Pete | February 1, 2007 9:23 AM
If you guys fail to elect him, I'm writing off Minnesota forever. Skipping "on notice" and "dead to me", straight to "never existed to me."
Posted by: Dennis | February 1, 2007 9:26 AM
I'd rather see R.T. Rybak run, I think. But of course Franken has my vote if he's the nominee.
Posted by: jeff | February 1, 2007 9:41 AM
I really want to see him debating on the floor of the senate. That would be delightfully colorful.
Go Al!
Go Al!
Posted by: Hypatia Dejavu | February 1, 2007 10:17 AM
"anger and slash-and-burn partisanship."
Jeez, I wonder where that came from?
Posted by: Ranger Jay | February 1, 2007 10:20 AM
Just imagine how entertaining his senate web page will be. Are there rules against senators wearing huge satellite dishes on their heads during floor debate?
Posted by: Slippery Pete | February 1, 2007 10:38 AM
"anger and slash-and-burn partisanship."
I can't wait until the GOP bring back pictures of Al with Tom Davis on Saturday Night Live pretending to be Communists.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich | February 1, 2007 12:49 PM
There's a lot of focus on Al Franken, comedian.
I wish there was more about Al Franken, Harvard graduate, cum laude; Al Franken: Harvard Kennedy School of Government Fellow, or; Al Franken: veteran of seven USO tours.
Posted by: ompus | February 1, 2007 1:26 PM
I'm afraid the 'endorsement' is of the 'Please, B'rer Fox, do anything you like to me, but don't throw me in the briar patch.' variety. Franken has provided the GOP with 3 hours a day of political commentary, lots of it deliberately provocative, to harvest sound-bites from. And then there was that Boys and Girls club mess.
The day the DFL nominates Franken, Norm Coleman will throw a party for his staff, and start thinking about the 2014 election.
Posted by: Gerard Harbison | February 1, 2007 3:06 PM
Actually, Franken's USO tours are a great experience with which he can explain how supporting the Obama or Feingold bill to cut off funding to the war doesn't conflict with supporting the troops.
Posted by: Alon Levy | February 1, 2007 5:37 PM
I think that is great - but I also think Al is going to have to learn to talk a bit more quickly and not in such a monotone. Let's face it - people look for that shallow charisma we see in people who can talk well (one notable exception, of course).
Posted by: slpage | February 2, 2007 8:42 AM
I suppose there's no hope of getting people to notice that "slash-and-burn" isn't a description of all-out attack but the name of a traditional, widely practiced system of crop cultivation, also called swidden agriculture. You chop down the brush and burn it; the resulting ash fertilizes the soil and you plant crops in it. Assuming you have someplace else to go after a few years when the soil's fertility is exhausted, a smallish group can keep this going over a widish territory indefinitely.
Posted by: rootlesscosmo | February 3, 2007 8:01 PM