News
2007-02-02
Al Franken
running for Senate
Comedian Al
Franken has decided to run for the Senate in Minnesota in
2008, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said
Wednesday.
Comedian Al
Franken has decided to run for the Senate in Minnesota in
2008, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said
Wednesday.
In a recent
conversation Franken told the official, who did not want to
be identified because Franken has not made an announcement,
that he had decided to run.
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 February 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, 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 political
action committee 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 December
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
taken out left-wing stances that make it questionable
whether he can win independent voters, Jacobs said.
(Frederic J. Frommer, AP)
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