02-01-2007
|
|
Vice President
|
|
Member Since: Jan 2004
Location: Los Angeles Ca
Posts: 7,269
|
|
|
Funnyman Franken to run for Senate
It's Confirmed! Potty mouthed funnyman Al Franken is planning to run for Senate in '08. Maybe he can call Coleman a big fat liar? 
Comedian Al Franken to run for Senate - Yahoo! News
Quote:
WASHINGTON - Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota in 2008, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Franken told the official, who did not want to be identified because Franken has not made an announcement, that he had decided to run in a recent conversation.
Andy Barr, the political director of Franken's Midwest Values Political Action Committee, declined to comment.
The news was not unexpected. Franken has been calling members of the Minnesota congressional delegation to get their input on a run, and he announced this week that he would be leaving his show on Air America Radio on Feb. 14. He told listeners he would be making a decision on a race soon.
In a statement, Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey said he was confident Minnesotans "will reject Franken's divisive, scorched-earth attacks." The state Democratic Party declined to comment.
Should he win the Democratic primary in Minnesota, Franken would take on Republican Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), a first-term senator who is among the Democrats' top targets. Coleman declined to comment Wednesday.
Franken, 55, was born in New York City, like Coleman, but grew up in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. He was a performer and writer on television's "Saturday Night Live" before writing best-selling books combining humor and politics.
His PAC raised nearly $1 million last year. Although Franken can't use that money for his Senate campaign, it shows he shouldn't have a problem raising money.
Coleman reported about $1.7 million in his bank account as of Dec. 31.
Franken faces major challenges, said Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota. Besides needing to establish himself as a serious candidate, Franken has staked out left-wing policies that make it questionable whether he can win independent voters, Jacobs said.
|
__________________
I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat . . . I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of the money."
-- Barney Frank, October 20, 2008
|
Linear Mode
