I wonder if Franken will write any more books after he’s spent some time learning about government from the inside? That would be kewl!
It’s also worth noting than Franken has no seniority when it comes to committees and such. Other new Dem senators from November, like Kay Hagan in NC, have 6mos under their belt that Franken doesn’t have. So if the two were on the same committee and there was to be a new chairperson, she’d get the nod even though they were elected at the same time. This basically sucks for Al, since seniority is a big thing in the Senate.
I wonder if they’d waive that a little bit for Al, given the circumstances.
Naw, on second thought, probably not. I hear they can be pretty high school about their pecking orders.
Hell, Gillibrand (NY) and Burris (IL) have seniority over Franken right now, even though neither one was sworn in until well after this Congressional session began.
Man, how green do you have to be to be junior to freaking Burris?
I’m tempted to look for a video of Franken’s initiation, but the thought of Harry Reid and Ted Kennedy paddling him is frankly too disturbing.
Not gonna fly. I know too many Political Science majors. 
Net saving. Minnesota has to pay all of those in-state expenses. Franken won’t become the Feds’ responsibility until he’s sworn in.
Just ask that newbie Dem from the Keystone State, Arlen Specter. Ouch.
I think he’s getting retroactive seniority with the Dems starting in 2010 (assuming he wins, of course), but I’d have to double check.
ETA: Just found a link. They’ll reconsider giving him back seniority after the midterms. Knowing Harry Reid, he’ll probably give him the Majority Leader position. 
Not if the ‘Our Country Deserves Better PAC’ manages to Defeat Harry Reid
It could happen!
I’d rather have Spector as Majority Leader. I’m not even kidding. I think he’d be better. I’d also like to replace Pelosi while we’re at it.
Cool, that makes sense. So, ACORN is helping the U.S. Census. Any other identified groups that we know of? Is there a website or a list of these community partners?
Tons of 'em.
See http://2010.census.gov/partners/ for info on becoming one (though there doesn’t seem to be a list given anywhere).
Seems to include lots of college groups, like fraternities & sororities, city groups (Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, City of Bloomington, MN Planning Council, City of Salmon, Idaho, Red Lake (MN) Tribe Education Council, Iowa State Assn. of Counties), ethnic groups (Asian American Justice Center, Brazilian Abroad Media), and professional groups like the American Statistical Assn. Seems like they want to partner with almost everybody!
And some groups have an obvious interest in this: the city & county governments all depend on census numbers to determine how much tax money comes to their jurisdictions. And the ethnic communities all want to make sure everyone in their community is counted.
Why the hell hasn’t Schumer muscled him out yet?
Schumer? You mean “Michael Mukasey would make a fine Attorney General” Schumer?
The Coleman-Franken interregnum was the fourth-longest since we began the direct election of U.S. senators: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/01/minnesota-joins-ranks-of-longest-senate-sagas/#more-58642
Ok, but it’s more than a blue kool aid drinking joke book.
Thanks for the fill-in.
‘Al Franken is a Big Fat Idiot’ is going to be worth reading only if it is written by Al Franken.