Maybe he can get an endorsement from Garrison Keillor.
ETA: Franken, that is. I know Ventura wouldn’t.
Minnesotans are fairly good at looking past the talk and seeing the action. (I think it comes from being close to farming – you can talk all you want about your skills as a farmer, but in the end your yield in bushels per acre is what really matters.)
As an elderly Minnesota woman told me last week, “Franken makes all those jokes about sex, but at night he goes home to his wife of 35 years. Norm Coleman sure can’t say the same!”
Update: Polls now show Franken leading Coleman and Barkley (Independence Party). Televised three-way debate Saturday at 7 p.m.
Norm Coleman has been throwing smear ads out for months and finally Franken repostes with THIS. I laughed my ass off.
In the beginning Franken’s attacks have simply been, ‘vote for me cause Coleman is an ass’. Lately he really has been getting his message out there and is getting traction. Four months ago I thought Al didn’t have a prayer, now I really think he’ll win.
I’ve read four of his books, and he seems like a helluva good guy.
Decent, smart, honest. And funny.
My favorite was “Lying Liars.”
I don’t live in Minnesota, but I’ll try and send him a few bucks. He’d be a good senator.
I would vote for Franken just because he can actually draw an entire map of all the US states from scratch. How cool is that?
Any last-minute predictions? Polling seems too close to call.
Intrade has him at a 45% chance for a win.
Absolutely a squeeker! Personally, I didn’t want him to run, and said so. Too much baggage, a perfectly ordinary white-bread Lutheran could have taken Norm! down, why take the chance?
As I’ve noted before, I’m pretty sure Norm Coleman is the only man Garrison Keillor actually hates. A grubby little opportunist.
And Norm isn’t that great either.
GK’s always been pretty much GK, with a face perfect for radio. Norm used to be a Democrat, now he’s a Republican, with an entirely predictable sense of prevailing wind patterns. I suspect he is likely to get knocked off his ass again, on the way to Damascus.
So we either elect a Democrat or watch Norm pretending to be one. Feh, as they say in Hibbing.
Quoting myself from months ago. Well Norm has done it. He went the whole campaign without ever going into the issues. The entire Coleman campaign has been a portrayal of Franken as an angry, violent, pornographic, racist, misogynist who is “unfit” for the senate. I notice that “unfit” has become a Republican catch-phrase since they deemed Kerry “unfit for command.” Nevertheless, Coleman can’t break away from Franken. I suspect that Franken will squeak this one out as I expect a big turnout for Democrats tomorrow. All support for McCain seems to have evaporated around here. There are no McCain signs in any yards around my house. I live in a democratic area (Golden Valley) to be sure, but there always a few people who put up Bush signs in the past. This year there are zero for McCain. I saw a few McCain signs on cars a few months ago, but I see them no more now. It seems enthusiasm on the Republican side is very weak this year. I think Obama will pull Franken along on his coattails.
From your lips to the Ears, Cap’n Doesn’t appear to be the case, though. Obama is waaay out if front, Franken is still struggling.
(Didja know that Ben Stein donated the max $ to Franken’s campaign? Asked why, he answered “Al Franken is the smartest man I ever met.” True fact, you could look it up.)
I’ve met Franken, and although he seemed decent and pretty sincere, I didn’t think he was one of those guys with an outstanding intellect.
You know when it happens-you’re having a conversation, blah, blah, blah, and all of a sudden they say something and your mind comes to a screeching halt as you reassess them. “Whoa, a smart one!” Then the fun begins as you poke and prod.
That never happened with Franken.
But then again, I’m not Ben Stein.
Cum laude at Harvard smart enough for you?
I can understand fisha’s impression, he’s not nearly as articulate a speaker as you’d think. If you read anything he’s written though, the intelligence behind it is unmistakable.
http://www.college.harvard.edu/academics/resources/honors_faqs.html
Cum laude is only the top 50% of the class. I don’t think that is anything special.
Al Franken had his decade. He proclaimed it himself on SNL - the Al Franken Decade kicked off in 1980 and ran out ten years later.
We’re now almost nineteen years past the expiration of the Al Franken Decade - and this campaign has demonstrated that.
Cum laude at Harvard seems pretty damn good to me.
I’d agree with that.
He had some pretty lame ads. “Only 1 candidate for senate hasn’t voted for a congressional pay raise.” :rolleyes: That’s because only 1 candidate hasn’t been in a political office.
All kinds of crap like that. “Al Franken called for a $5000 tax credit!” Oh really? Where? On his radio program?
Maybe if he, i don’t know, was on a school board or something, I’d give him benefit of the doubt on stuff like that. But I think he just makes shit up and no body can really call him on it because he doesn’t actually have a record either way.