Comedian Al Franken to run for Senate in Minnesota

[El Supremo]

WASHINGTON -- Comedian and radio talk show host Al Franken has begun calling Democratic members of Congress and prominent Minnesota Democrats to tell them he will definitely challenge Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008, McClatchy Newspapers has learned.

On Monday, Franken announced that he was quitting his radio show on Feb. 14, and he told his audience that they'd be the first to know of his decision. But Franken has been working the phones in recent days, telling his political friends he's ready to declare his candidacy. McClatchy Newspapers confirmed Wednesday that Franken made calls to at least two members of the Minnesota congressional delegation in Washington to break the news. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, not wanting to pre-empt Franken's announcement.

"From his voice to my ears, he's running," said one House member, who relayed the remark via his press secretary.

"I can tell you we got one of those calls," said a top-ranked aide for another House member.

Franken declined to be interviewed....

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16590899.htm

[CarlWoodward]

1. Go Al!

Go Al go!

[David Zephyr]

2. Yes!

:thumbsup:

[Botany]

3. Franken is a fighter

Hope he drops some Jew-Jitsu on Norm.

[Ian David]

4. Let me know when there's a link to donate money! n/t

[NYCGirl]

13. Here's his PAC. He was able to give $1 million to Democratic candidates in 2006:

www.midwestvaluespac.org

Here's more about the organization:

http://www.midwestvaluespac.org/about

[Infinite Hope]

71. He can't use the $$ from his PAC. Don't donate to his PAC thinking it'll help his campaign. n/t

[tabasco]

5. Watch the righties rail on a comedian running for Senate !

They practically worship a b-movie actor.

Franken has more intelligence and talent than Reagan and Sonny Bono put together.

[The Wizard]

42. The wing nutz will rail

no matter who runs. We should find someone to legally change his name to Jesus Christ and put him on the ballot. The right wing would have a group convulsion.

[BearSquirrel2]

124. If Jesus ...

If Jesus came down and ran as a Democrat, they would call him a hippie pacficistic communist for his "peace", "love" policies. They would also strenuously oppose Jesus curing the poor of disease via healthcare and feeding the poor masses via welfare stamps.

[zalinda]

50. They elected Fred Grandy who played Gopher

on the Love Boat, to congress 4 times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Grandy They can't make fun of Al, when they elected a second rate actor.

zalinda

[Infinite Hope]

73. That'll backfire in Minnesota.

Constant personal attacks throughout the campaign will make Coleman look very un-Minnesotan.

[Thor_MN]

98. Norm IS un-Minnesotan, He's from New York

To be honest, Al was born in New York as well, but at least he went to High School in Minnesota.

[Telly Savalas]

101. Minnesotans elected an ex-pro wrestler to the governorship.

I don't think they'll have any problems with a comedian -- especially a principled, intelligent one who will stand up for their interests in Washington.

[rocktivity]

6. Winner of this month's "You Call This NEWS?" award

But in the nicest possible way.

:headbang:
rocknation

[stevedeshazer]

10. You made me laugh.

Thanks.

:headbang:

[elfin]

7. MUCH more than a "comedian" - he has the grasp of

all the issues AND has been working the ground in Minnesota boosting the likes of Amy Klobuchar and extending the ground level legacy of Wellstone.

I will miss him on Air America - while his seeming buffoonery turned off many on this forum - I appreciated his in depth treatment of issues using real experts to augment his comments.

He has done the homework - more power to him.

[CTyankee]

18. You are so right. He had the best on his shows, from NOrm Ornstein to

Christy Harvey to Melanie Sloan to Joe Conason and Tom Oliphant. What a lineup of great guests!

I am happy for him and I welcome him and hope he will be the next senator from Minnesota!

[ronnykmarshall]

41. I miss the Oy Yoy Yoy show!

And I miss Katherine too.

Go get 'em Al!!

[CTyankee]

63. Once Katherine Lanpher and Joe Conason were filling in for Al

and they did their own "Goy Goy Goy Show"! It was very funny!

[jean]

68. Well said, well said!

[Infinite Hope]

8. "From his voice to my ears, he's running," That sounds just like Oberstar. n/t

[journalist3072]

9. I'm very happy for the future Sen. Franken!

I will miss him dearly on Air America. But I think his voice is needed in the Senate.

[dsharp88]

11. Woo hoo!!!

Give 'em hell, Al!!!

[Gman]

12. Interesting non-commital comments

stuff like "From his voice to my ears, he's running," or "I can tell you we got one of those calls,"

You don't hear "Al will make a great Senator!" or "I look forward to working with Al in Congress." Justn non-commital comments. Such is life within the Beltway.

[catgirl]

89. That's because he hasn't officially announced

He wants his radio listeners to hear it first.

[StClone]

14. Love Al

Most DUers can not but help love the guy. I wish the other native son could run -- Garrison.

[geardaddy]

69. We only have two native sons?

;)

[mdmc]

84. NO!

:cry: for my radio! NPR needs Prairie Home Companion!

[SunDrop23]

15. Go get 'em Al!

Give them hell!

[Savannah_H]

16. reply

:boring:

[SunDrop23]

80. Just curious.

Why did you pick my thread to give the "zzz" emoticon to?

[ptolle]

104. knots

Much as I'll miss his voice on Air America, and as good a senator as I believe he'll be I'm just as pleased to see this development along with Al Gore's Nobel for the enormous knots this will put in the knickers of the freepers and their fellow travelers.You've got to know blowhardbillow lielly and the rest of the talking bobbleheads at the faux noise channel are going to bust a gut on hearing this o'lelly's enormous skull might explode.

[chknltl]

105. Yes...he's been thinking about it for years now.

He will be good for America and better yet he'll replace Norm Coleman...a senator who is in my top ten list of most hated. I so loved it when Galloway gave him a thumpin' last year and we got to watch on C-Span. Norm Coleman, you are but one of the "pack", THE PACK OF LIES George was refering to!
chknltl

[WindRavenX]

17. This is going to be awesome

Go Al!

[Seabiscuit]

19. "...not wanting to pre-empt Franken's announcement." WTF???

"The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, not wanting to pre-empt Franken's announcement."

Anonymity has nothing to do with the fact that each of the two House members Franken called DID EXACTLY THAT - they PRE-EMPTED Franken's announcement.

It's no wonder Americans don't trust Congress any more.

[Infinite Hope]

75. Get a grip, it was likely a planned leak to have media attention ready for his announcement.

The quote sounds like Oberstar and Oberstar would not leak it without it being a planned leak. He's as trustworthy as they come and also respects the process, system, and individual candidate's wishes. So IF it was Oberstar, it was definitely a planned leak. It probably was even if it was another Member.

[Seabiscuit]

117. "Get a grip"??? Followed by a criticism based purely on speculation???

I'm not criticizing Franken. I'm criticizing the way the article was written.

[mdmc]

86. no, just followin the game plan

they are working with Al

[Doctor_J]

20. Can he win?

Norm will be on life support by then due to his undying support for *. But can a comedian who's lived in NY for 30 years win the seat?

:shrug:

[Blue_Tires]

21. good question

i also worry that the average voter may not think Franken is "serious" enough, but then again this is the state that elected Jesse Ventura, so anything can happen -- keep your fingers crossed

[dflprincess]

29. Ventura won in a 3 way race with well under 50% of the vote

To date, we have not had a senate race where a third party candidate had any serious effect on the outcome. I have concerns about how well Franken will do outside of the metro area. As Coleman is seen as very vulnerable, I would hope we'll have several candidates running for endorsement (unless the fix is in and the DSCC has already picked Franken for us liked they picked Klobuchar).

[catgirl]

90. He's hugely popular in Minnesota

this race isn't going to be close. Coleman is history.
Good riddence slimey Norm!

[EndElectoral]

22. Against Norm Coleman's dumpster diving record? I would think he has a good chance

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

23. I've always considered this seat and taking down Coleman personal

-especially after the fact that they launched that 'fune-rally' smear. the just had to use paul's death as another excuse to spreaddisinfo.

[Stevepol]

44. Highly unlikely that Coleman really won the seat to begin with.

If there's a fair vote count, Franken will run away with the election.

Coleman was down about 5% in polls to Mondale, a very fine and well-liked candidate. Votes were counted primarily on optiscans (ES&S I think), the same year of the obvious fraudulent result in GA (Cleland losing to Diebold) and the very suspicious results in CO (Allard supposedly beating Strickland) and several other suspicious results.

When there's no audit, the optiscans are no better than touchscreens.

[dflprincess]

127. I think it had more to do with the way the absentee ballots were handled

If you'd voted for Wellstone and weren't able to refile your ballot, your vote did not transfer to Mondale. All of Coleman's absentee ballots were counted. The rationalization for this was that it couldn't be assumed a Wellstone voter would automatically have voted for Mondale. I never heard any explanation as to why it could be assumed that someone who had voted for Coleman instead of Wellstone would have voted for Coleman instead of Mondale.

[Love Bug]

65. Oh, God, don't get me started

I was at the Wellstone memorial and the reich-wing smear job afterward just sickened me like little else ever has.

[0rganism]

24. assumes no primary contest?

"he will definitely challenge Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008" -- a bit premature, maybe.

[dflprincess]

30. Minnesota is a caucus state.

The state DFL convention is usually held in early June and the party's endorsement is given to candidates running for statewide office. Quite often, there will be candidates who run against the endosed candidate in the September primary. There are two problems with this, 1) the primary is so late in the year we spend the whole summer running against other DFLers instead of the Republican and 2) we don't have party registration and if the Repukes don't have any serious primary contests (and quite often they don't) they can cross over and vote for the DFLer perceived to be the weakest candidate. It's been a while, but Republican cross over has caused problems.

Hopefully, we will come out of the convention with everyone united behind the endorsed candidate (whoever it is) so there will be no primary and we will be able to concentrate on beating Normie.

[0rganism]

32. Wow, good luck with all that

I hope you guys come out unified and strong behind whoever it may be by September 2008.

[peaches2003]

25. Good Luck, Al

I wish him all the luck in the world. Norm Coleman is a jerk, but this is going to be a tough race.

[lovuian]

26. Al beat Norm's BUTT

Norm is a poor excuse of a Senator

it was a travesty

[peekaloo]

27. Go Al!

:bounce:

[Odin2005]

28. Go Al! Kick Normie's ass!!!

:yourock:

[geiger]

31. All I can say is that I will miss him on Air America; he was the highlight of my day

and I hope he is not passing by his real calling. He deserves to run like anyone else though and he's probably more informed than 90 percent of the Senators already there. I think he and Tom Oliphant need to make a book out of their interviews. Some days I cry when I think of them giving up those conversations. It's just unsurpassable political commentary and information.

[jean]

70. Al's in depth conversations with his guests were pure gold. Such a gift to listeners.

[kdpeters]

106. I always love Oliphaunt on Thursdays

Could there be a nicer guy?

[Bretttido]

122. Don't feel too bad, Thom Hartman will be on

Thom Hartman will be taking his slot and I can't think of anyone better to fill the empty slot.

[BootinUp]

33. It'd be great

to read about Sen. Franken meeting dubya and insulting him in some way or other, there are so many possibilities. :)

[Mark E. Smith]

34. Norm Coleman is so stiff ..

.. he could serve as a stunt double for a cadaver.

[krispos42]

59. He's not stiff

He's flexible, like a Slinky. He was a Democrat when it was convienent, then he became a Republican when it was convienent. He supported Bush and the war while it was convienent, then all of a sudden he doesn't want a troop surge in Baghdad. Anbar Province, yes, Baghdad, no.

I've been here only 18 monhts and I don't like him either!

[geardaddy]

94. He's only stiff when he gets a near 20-something women in bars. n/t

[onehandle]

35. Got my checkbook ready. nt

[Dude_CalmDown]

36. Go Al! You're good enough, smart enough, & doggonnit people like you.

Run Al!

[Treclo]

45. Ahh, I was gonna say that!

This is great news! And we do like you, Al! :):):)

[disndat]

74. Terrific

I loved his Smiley character on SNL. I will always remember that act with "Smiley" Michael Air Jordan Pure genius. Al against Norm Coleman? Slam dunk!

[Coventina]

113. Dammit! I wasn't fast enough!

x(

[UTUSN]

37. AwwwwwwwRIGHT!!!1 GO, Al and FIGHT'em!!!1 n/t

[Maat]

38. Go, Al!

I'll be donating to the campaign!

[DarkTirade]

39. I'd vote for him.

Of course, I have the slight drawback of being a resident of a different state... but hey. :)

[IronScorpio5]

40. Go Al !!!

nt

[The Wizard]

43. Does this mean

there will be two transplanted New York Jews running for the Senate in Minnesota? Before selling his soul, Coleman was a Democrat. It's time for Coleman to have his foreskin reattached and add an N to his last name.

[NYCGirl]

48. Except that Al was born and raised in Minnesota. NT

[Starbucks Anarchist]

49. Born in NY, raised in Minnesota.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0291253/

[NYCGirl]

53. I stand corrected. Al says "I'm the only New York Jew in the race who's from

Minnesota." I interpreted that to born there.

[Thor_MN]

111. He says that because Norm is from New York, Jewish and not raised here.

I like Al's deadpan style of humor saying something that sounds deeply profound or provocative, but really is just the facts. He likes semantics and what he can do with them. A nice juicy steak, or a segment of muscle tissue from an immature, castrated bull? (Sorry for the mind picture, noncarnivores)

[chaplainM]

46. I'm especially going to miss...

Linda Ronstadt singing, "Jonny Alter."

[Mad_Dem_X]

47. YES!

Go, Al! I will definitely donate to his campaign (even tho' I'm in DE)!

[ewagner]

51. The problem is....

he's spent his whole life getting people to NOT TAKE HIM SEROUSLY

[byronius]

56. I think he's made a serious impact in the last few years.

Deep analysis, hard emotion, damn serious moments. Very, very different Al on AAR than on Lateline or SNL. He's a Good Man, albeit a little moderate for me, and I accept his apologies for de-emphasizing election fraud with gladness, not blame. He tries hard. I think he's revealed all the qualities necessary to lead.

[Deep13]

57. This is the state that elected a pro wrestler as governor.

I don't think his show-biz career will be a problem.

[Contrite]

107. Yes, but he was mayor of Brooklyn Park first.

Al has no political experience. I think Democrats will have to choose a stronger candidate to beat the incumbent Coleman, as much as many of us here hate him passionately.

[krispos42]

60. He's been to Iraq like 5 times with the USO during the holidays...

cheering up the troops. He was there for like a month this last time. How often has fatass Limp-bough been there?

Hell, Al has more time on the ground in Iraq than Colecreature does!

[Infinite Hope]

76. People who have heard him recently expecting comedy found that...

...he was very articulate, serious and intelligent. They were shocked by it. Those are the comments I keep hearing. After a long campaign and debates, he won't have so much of an issue with that.

[AndreaCG]

91. You don't take his books seriously?

Apart from their titles, they are thoroughly researched and footnoted. Al acknowledges that he hires research assistants to make sure of the accuracy of what he writes.

[kestrel91316]

52. I thought Norm Coleman was a friend of his?

[NYCGirl]

54. He HATES Coleman. Wellstone was a friend of Al's. NT

[kestrel91316]

99. I would SWEAR he is always referring to his personal friend

Norm Coleman on his show..............

(kestrel wanders off, shaking head, totally mystified)

[NYCGirl]

102. If he did, he was telling a joke. He HATES Coleman with a white hot passion.

The article at this first link is brilliant, but a 4 paragraph clip wouldn't be fair to it. Please read:

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0413-04.htm

Then there's this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/what-in-gods-name-is-g_b_1221.html

Last Friday I was on the panel of Bill Maher’s season finale of his HBO show “Real Time.” Bill’s guest by satellite was Senator Norm Coleman from my home state of Minnesota. Because Coleman serves on the homeland security committee, Maher asked him to comment on former homeland security director Tom Ridge’s recent revelation that the Bush administration would often issue terror alerts that he didn’t think were warranted.
Could it be that they were using terror alerts politically?

Coleman answered that it was always good to err on the side of caution. Maher followed by asking Coleman if it struck him as odd that there haven’t been any terror alerts since the election?

After a long laugh from the audience, Coleman answered with some stuff about there still being a high level alert, but then reassured everybody with: "If in fact people used these things for political purposes, I’m sure Congress will look into that."

Wow! If people used these things for political purposes, he’s sure the Republican Congress will look into it? How is it that this guy can’t get through a five minute interview on a political comedy show without having to resort to total b.s.?

[Lifelong Protester]

103. There is another Norm Coleman in Minnesota...

He is a columnist in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and a lifelong democrat. If Al was referring to any friend "norm coleman", that would be him.

[kestrel91316]

118. Or maybe it's Norm Ornstein? That name also keeps poking into my head...

[StarTurtle]

121. That's NICK Coleman.

Son of the late state senator by the same name, brother of the current mayor of St. Paul.

[Deep13]

55. Hey Al! Watch out for those lying liars and the lies they tell!

Beware of Limbaugh too. I hear he's a big, fat idiot.

[BearSquirrel2]

125. Interesting ...

I wonder if Limbaugh will actually speak the name Franken. It seemed to me that they would always talk about how Air America is going under, but they would never specifically address any of the talent on the other side. The idea is to make them seem to irrelevant to mention. O'Reilly would reference Franken but he always calls him "Stuart Smalley".

[mzmolly]

58. This Minnesotan is excited to see him enter the race.

:toast:

[myrna minx]

79. Me too!

Since Coleman absconded with Wellstone's seat, I look forward to our Senate seat returning to a DFL'er will take up Wellstone's causes. :toast:

[mzmolly]

81. I think he's reaching out to the right people and really taking this seriously.

I appreciate his patriotism. He doesn't need the work. ;)

:hi:

[eyepaddle]

61. Here's anothe MInnesotan looking forward to voting for Al

I think he'll make a great Senator--he's clearly got a penchant for doing his assigned reading as well as being very quick witted. There will be few the right wing nuts would like to savage more--and few they will be able to savage less.

Just the thought of O'really having to choke out the phrase "Senator Franken" practically makes me swoon with delght.

[trogdor]

87. CSPAN2 will be much more interesting.

With Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) in the house!

[Sabriel]

62. I can't wait to see him on the talk circuit

They'll actually have to take him seriously.

Yee hah! I wish I were in Minnesota, rather than next door. At least we already have Feingold.

[earthlover]

64. I lived in Minnesota when Coleman ran...

..And I can safely say that there are few folks I respect LESS than Norm Coleman. It would make me very happy to see Coleman beaten soundly in 08.

This makes it paramount that whoever the Dems nominate is the best candidate possible.

Coleman is slick. He used to be a Democrat. He has family scandals up the gazoo and is just about as sleazy as they get. Having seen him in action, he is a master of the slick phrase and of bs'ing his way through debates.

It is by no means true that he will be easily defeated, regardless of his kissing up to Bush. He already is trying to distance himself from him. So watch out.

He won in a fluke, after Wellstone died. Wellstone had risen above him in the polls and looked like he was gonna win. Then he died in that fated plane crash. Mondale could have won, except one of the speeches at Wellstone's funeral got too "political" and it led to a HUGE backlash among folks who thought the funeral was being used for political purposes, something that goes against Minnesotan sensibilities. Without that speech, and the backlash that ensued, Coleman would probably have been defeated.

While I like Franken, he is the type of candidate that Coleman could demonize as being a "libral". Which may be Coleman's best hope of getting reelected. He certainly can't campaign on his record....

[Zorra]

66. Go Al!

[NobleCynic]

67. Hmm...

My serious side says go for it. He is knowledgeable and very politically acute. He is a strong liberal with a backbone. He is a lot closer to what our party should be than most of our elected Dems.

My practical side asks if he is electable. Then I remember these folk elected Jesse Ventura. Anything is possible.

My jokester side says about frickin time. He's been slaughtering comedy for so long now, he simply HAS to stop. Any other profession Al. Please. You're just not funny anymore. You started taking politics too seriously for a comedian a long time ago. I don't blame Al, given how badly the Bush Administration has screwed this country, one has to take it seriously. But I don't think he can ever truly go back to comedy. He has become too invested emotionally in politics to be funny.

[AndreaCG]

92. I love Franken's show

When Katherine Lampher left he dropped a lot of the comedy bits, most of which were so-so IMO. He also has cut back his time with his RW friend, unless I just miss the segments due to work.

Al has THE BEST GUESTS, even better than Olbermann's, since some of Olbermann's are wishy washy journalists.

I wish whoever takes over AL's spot decides to use some of his regulars, especially Conason.

[Thor_MN]

112. As one of "these folk", I not sure I'm entirely in love with your tone.

I would hesitate to call Jesse a great politician, but he wasn't half bad. And he stuck to his word, doing one term and getting out. I would vote for him again in a heartbeat as opposed to the POS we currently have, I can't stand Tim Buhlinky. Hook a generator to the man's eyelids and we could shut down the Monticello reactor.

I will welcome Al as our Senator, if only to spare you from having to seek him out in order to disparage his humor.

[geardaddy]

72. Coleman's an asshat

snip

That list of contributors prompted Coleman to say that Franken "obviously has a sense of humor" by calling his PAC Midwest Values.

"Hollywood values aren't Midwest," Coleman said, "and the money isn't Midwest."

/snip

Oh really Rat Teeth?

What about your wife?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=160x24677

[HappyWeasel]

77. Well,...

deep down I think we could be sending a clown to do a man's job, but I also feel deep down that if there ever was a man for the job, it would be him.

[The Wizard]

82. Rat Teeth?

looks like a mouth full of Chiclets from here.

[geardaddy]

93. Yeah, those might as well be Chiclets.

They're caps.

As for rat teeth, I was referring to his dumpster diving episode.

[The Wizard]

95. I forgot about that

He must have been pretty hungry.

[SoCalDem]

109. Apparently he did not pay his dentist, so the dentist posted his REAL teeth online.. Take a look

[SoCalDem]

110. Normie's wife is a piece of work

from Bartcop

[geardaddy]

119. Yikes!

That's not much of an improvement.

:shudder:

[Taylor Mason Powell]

78. Cheers to Al!

Al is awesome. I will be definitely sending money to his campaign. Someday I think he could be our first Jewish president!

/dreaming

[trogdor]

88. Charles Schumer will be the first Jewish president.

He rocks the house.

[mdmc]

83. I'll be the only New York Jew in the race who actually grew up in Minnesota

wildtown!

[mvd]

85. I think he'll beat Coleman easily

Mondale only lost because of that stupid flap over Wellstone's funeral - and that was in more Repuke times.

[flying_wahini]

96. and doggonet people love him,,,,, I know I do....

[ozone_man]

97. Minnesota deserves a good senator.

And Al Franken will make a fine senator. I saw him at a Bernie Sanders fundraiser and loved him.

[Contrite]

123. We had a good senator.

In fact, we had two of them. One, they killed. The other, they tried to.

[Diane R]

100. Good luck to Al. I'm grateful for his contribution to progressive radio. n/t

[Prophet 451]

108. Can he win?

I think a lot of us who read The Truth (with jokes) got the impression that he was thinking of a run at politics but does anyone think he can actually win?

Granted, Al is an intelligent man with a firm handle on the issues, he writes well and I'm told he's very eloquent as a speaker. I don't doubt he'd make a fine senator if he won. But, on the other hand (and these may seem superficial but you can guarentee they will matter to some people), he's Jewish, not especially attractive, almost worships Clinton, he's spent most of his career making people laugh and on some things (gay rights for example), he's very liberal.

Those who are comparing his chances to those of Jesse Ventura have missed the nature of wrestling in the modern day. People like to belittle and ridicule wrestling, mainly from intellectual snobbery. It's interesting that wrestling fans don't do this to followers of other sports. Hey, I don't see what's so entertaining about 22 men chasing an inflated pig's bladder around a field but if you like it, go for it. They seem to see wrestling as some big con put over on the general public. It's not. Everyone knows that the matches are rigged (NOT fake, never call it "fake" around me), everyone knows that the winners are predetermined, wrestling promotions have made no bones about that for years. Yes, during the show, everyone acts like it's for real, that's called trying to maintain suspension of disbelief. When you watch a movie, you know that the actors aren't really being shot or whatever but it would spoil the film if they got up and walked around after taking a full clip in the chest.

Ventura was never much of a wrestler but he was charismatic. He had that "it" factor which made people pay attention and in modern wrestling, it doesn't matter whether people love you or hate you, as long as they care enough to put down money to watch you perform. Ventura learned, in wrestling, how to draw in an audience (and, in fairness, he was one of the best at it), get them to believe in what he was saying and doing (at least, until the show was over). Doubtless, it's more difficult in politics where the audience aren't actively suspending their disbelief to enjoy the show but the principle is the same: Learning how to convince those watching you. This is no different than what politicians do but Ventura never played a comedy character. His character ("gimmick") was always dead serious. Al Franken has made a career out of getting people not to take him seriously. His books contain plenty of serious information but it's all delivered in such a way as to be amusing.

I'd like to think he can win but being unabashedly liberal on the hot-button topics of today (gay rights, abortion, etc), can he actually win?

[eyepaddle]

114. Yeah, he can win,

I'm not guaranteeing a win--but it is very possible. Taking into account his opposition I'd go so far as to say likely. Norm Coleman is also Jewish--as was his predecessor Paul Wellstone--as was HIS predecessor Rudy Boschwitz. If I'm not mistaken the Wellstone/Boschwitz race was the first time in US history that two Jewish candidates squared off against each other in a senate race. The irony that such a contest occured in nordic-lutheran MINNESOTA of all places was not lost on the candidates! when Paul and Rudy came to my college to talk Paul Wellstone pointed this out and got pretty good laughs out of it--even from the republicans in the audience.

It's hard to say exactly why (because no, we are NOT free from bigotry here in the North Star state) but Jewish candidates have no real problems being elected as our Senators--I can't think of any who have gone to the House though--or even the governor's mansion, but the senate? No problem.

The gay rights, and environmental positions will play very well in the Twin Cities Metro Area Jim Ramstad, (our most metropolitan Republican Representative) is pretty moderate on social issues and generally gets pretty good marks on his environmental voting> The metro repubs tend to be the more fiscal ones and not so much the in the Brownback mold. Al's apparent good relationship to Jim Oberstar will play VERY well on the Iron Range (the area between Lake Superior and the Canadian border) which is so utterly blue it's amazing--albeit also strongly interested in hunting/fishing issues, as well as a bit more socially conservative. If Al dominates these two regions, he wins.

An especially interesting thing to consider, the SE Minnesota--which was one of the reddest parts of the state just bounced Gil Guttknecht and sent Tim Walz to congress.

Al will have to play his cards right, to be sure--but I have zero doubt that it is possible.

[Prophet 451]

120. Gives me some hope, cheers n/t

[BearSquirrel2]

126. No, they do not ...

No, before Smackdown they do not announce "The winners are predetermined and the participants are only actors." No, they do an awful lot to keep the image of "real" to the naive. Wrestlers have been known to harm people who called their craft "fake". Lets remember the primary audience for this garbage is young male adolescents (young and dumb and full of cum).

Now, here is MY problem with "pro" wrestling. They show VERY violent things that would get you seriously harmed if you actually performed the stunts. Furthermore, they do not show the byproducts of violence as they portray.

Some people say that MMA is brutal. I agree, but it is honest. Men get messed upand get knocked out. Pro wrestling portrays brutal, but the end of the match shows an unharmed combatant being pinned.

[stanwyck]

115. I hope he sets a precedent. Jon Stewart. Stephen Colbert

Robin Williams. Alec Baldwin. Sean Penn. Tim Robbins. Susan Sarandon. Jane Fonda. I'd take all of these people over the fake conservatives in Congress who bow down to the religious right.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

116. Go Al!