Hey, Al Franken is running for Senate.

Hey Al Franken is running for Senate in Minnesota. You might not know that, because it hasn't gotten much national coverage, but it's not a joke. In fact, he's doing quite well. He's running away with the Democratic nomination and a month ago was virtually tied in polls with Norm Coleman, the republican incumbent. But Franken doesn't say he's running for Coleman's seat. Rather he says he's running to kick the one term senator out of Paul Wellstone's seat.

You may recall, Wellstone was a democratic senator for Minnesota from 1991 until he died in a plane crash along with his wife and daughter in 2002, only 11 days before Minnesota voters had to decide whether to re-elect him for a third term. Despite Walter Mondale stepping in to replace Wellstone, his opponent Norm Coleman narrowly won in an emotional election. Since then, Wellstone has been idealized (perhaps overly so) as an advocate for peace, the environment and all sorts of dis-advantaged people from illegal immigrants to abused housewives. Tales about Wellstone take on a mythical feeling, such as voting against authorizing the war in Iraq even though he was convinced it would cause him to lose his re-election campaign against Coleman. Minnesotans proved otherwise and the next day, he surged ahead of Coleman in the polls and seemed on the road to re-election. 13 days later he was dead. In that emotional context, Franken, who was a friend of Wellstone, is running to reclaim his seat.

There's an old adage in entertainment that says "If you wanna make 'em laugh, first make 'em cry. And if you wanna make 'em cry, first make 'em laugh." Too often, politics is an interesting subject communicated by very very boring people, and because of that the emotion is lost. On the other hand, sincerity and humor shine, make people think and make people care.

Check out this clip of Franken on Letterman shortly after announcing he would run for Senate. He uses humor, but he's well informed. And at the end, (starting around minute 12) he makes 'em cry.



Your home for Al Franken coverage:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/

POHS
midwesterner