# Who owns Al Franken? Not us. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 10, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193 "2007-07-10T13:52:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/61 "2007-07-11T03:45:16Z")
New York City?! Get a rope. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/62 "2007-07-11T03:45:34Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny Hildo] Gee, I don’t know. The fact that non-residents from elsewhere are trying to influence another state’s local election, maybe? I know who’s contributing to his campaign. Those douchebags who make picante sauce in New York City. [/QUOTE] Where were you in 2000 when the national zeigeist was working to try to get Hillary Clinton a Senatorial seat in a state in which she’d never lived before choosing to run for that office? Or, have you heard about RFK - the Senator from **New York**?!?!? I have some sympathy for the OP, but to believe that this is a new phenomenon is incredibly naive. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/63 "2007-07-11T03:48:32Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Lance Murdoch] By that standard many of our troops dying in Iraq aren’t Minnesotans either. They grow up here, finish high school, go into the service, ship out, get blown up in Iraq. Spent their whole adult lives outside of Minnesota. A pretty extreme example, but I know I considered myself a Minnesotan when I left High school and if I had gone to Harvard and gone into a career that took me elsewhere I still would be one. [/QUOTE] If they were gone for 36 years, I doubt _they_ consider themselves MN. Unless it was politically expedient. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/64 "2007-07-11T03:51:28Z")
I don’t think it’s a new phenomena, I just think it sucks, and the representation they are supposed to have for their constituency is diluted by other interests. Of course, someone will waltz in here and say–We’re just putting the best people in the best places. Yeah, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/65 "2007-07-11T03:56:02Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny Hildo] Gee, I don’t know. The fact that non-residents from elsewhere are trying to influence another state’s local election, maybe? [/QUOTE] That is precisely what elections to the United States Congress are **not.** ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/66 "2007-07-11T04:57:43Z")
[QUOTE=fisha] Not born here, graduated high school from here, then left in 1969, was gone for 36 years- all of his adult life- then moved back in 2005 for purely political reasons. Um, nope, doesn’t qualify. [/QUOTE] Yeah well, Charles Shultz (the _Peanuts_ guy) was born here, moved away and never came back. The minute the guy dies, the town is plastered with Peanuts statues. Makes me ill. Poor Fucking Minnesota. Someone famous drove through once, so he’s “ours”. At least he’s got more connections than Hillary has to New York! Even so, I’d seriously like to be able to vote for a Senatorial candidate who didn’t exist on the fringes of the political spectrum. Franken and Coleman? Bah! A pox on both their houses! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/67 "2007-07-11T05:35:45Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] Where were you in 2000 when the national zeigeist was working to try to get Hillary Clinton a Senatorial seat in a state in which she’d never lived before choosing to run for that office? I have some sympathy for the OP, but to believe that this is a new phenomenon is incredibly naive. [/QUOTE] Never said it was new. I said I thought it was sleazy bullshit. Hillary running in New York was the most shameless bullshit I’ve ever seen. Too bad New Yorkers love eating bullshit. Eh, they got what they deserved. Say what you will about Jesse Ventura, that man as governor sent us all checks for two years in a row. What were they? Sales tax refunds! Um, I had never heard of that before. Have you? Our sales tax collected too much money to be justified. So he made the state senate send some back. Since the new governors took office, this hasn’t happened again. Sad, that. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/68 "2007-07-11T05:50:34Z")
Well, I guess this thread could just amble along as a debate over how “local” a Senator should be, but I don’t think the OP can carry much weight until **iamthewalrus(:3=**'s [point at the top of the page](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=428201&page=2&pp=50) is addressed. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/69 "2007-07-11T06:00:13Z")
Missed my window to add: Though I do see the point of the “sleazy” calls. It’s similar to arguments in countries with a parliamentary system where the concept of Party solidarity has taken over the concept of constituency representation. When most of the money is coming from out of the State, control is coming from outside the State. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/70 "2007-07-11T07:00:07Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny Hildo] Too bad New Yorkers love eating bullshit. Eh, they got what they deserved. [/QUOTE] Yanno, **Johnny** , I was going to try arguing with you. It’s not worth it. Instead let me give you a quote from a book I happen to like a lot: “You’re a nasty little shit. Why don’t you do something about that?” **CarnalK** , in the interest of responding to your challenge rather than any true disagreement with you, I would like to point out that often in political circles the perception of success often breeds success. This, AIUI, can carry over to fundraising. So, if there are two candidates, and one has raised twice as much money as the other, some donors will choose to back the candidate that already appears to be the front runner. So, the timing of the fundraising matters, too, I think. I imagine it’s possible for the party, for example, to dump huge amounts of money into the coffers of the candidate whom they wish to win the primary, and then have that larger war chest act to draw in more local support from people looking to support whom they feel will be the winning candidate. Just an exercise in pointing out one way that out-of-state support may be able to translate into inflated perception of in-state support. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/71 "2007-07-11T07:45:59Z")
Democracy sure sounds expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/72 "2007-07-11T11:26:10Z")
[QUOTE=Chimera] Even so, I’d seriously like to be able to vote for a Senatorial candidate who didn’t exist on the fringes of the political spectrum. Franken and Coleman? Bah! A pox on both their houses! [/QUOTE] Someday soon the day will come when a Democrat isn’t automatically regarded as being on the fringes of the political spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/73 "2007-07-11T12:37:16Z")
\ He wants to run, he needs money, I’m sure if Minnesotans were wealthy beyond all measure he wouldn’t mind 100% of his contributions coming that State. Or is the OP’s implication that he won’t vote in Minnesota’s best interests because his contributions came from out of State? \ He’ll vote liberal, no matter what the issue is, no matter where the money came from. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/74 "2007-07-11T13:46:40Z")
[QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3=] Candidate A receives $536K from in-state supporters. Candidate B receives $700K from in-state supporters. Which candidate has more support in-state? If you chose Candidate B, congratulations: you can count. Of course, Candidate B is Al Franken. Let’s go on back to the article you linked: $3.3 million - (more than) $2.5 million = (more than) $700K$735K \* 0.73 = $536. Granted, the comparison isn’t exact, since they give actual numbers for Franken’s money, and only a figure for Ciresi’s _donors_. But, even using the donors figure for Franken, he _still_ comes out with more in-state support. Note that, because it skews that way, it means that the average donation from in-state donors is greater than the average from out-of-state. Given that he’s getting some pretty hefty donations from entertainment business buddies, I’d take that to mean that he’s probably got strong _political_ support in Minn, balanced with a few celebrities and a whole bunch of people who gave him $10 because they think it’s funny that a comedian is running for office out of state. Unfortunately, we aren’t given similar figures for the other candidates to compare. Compared to the Republican in the race, both Franken and Ciresi fall short on in-state money. But, then, it’s still a divided race on the Democrat side. Combined, they have… about the same amount of in-state support as Coleman. [/QUOTE] You make a good point. I wonder if this phenomena is typical of dem contributor behavior. Perhaps dems are finally uniting in getting something done. Looked up records for Hillary in 2006-54% out of state, 47% in state. [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/geog.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00000019](http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/geog.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00000019) Actually that is a pretty good site, lots of info. I’ll look and see if pubs are doing the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/75 "2007-07-11T17:06:52Z")
Has Hillary Clinton been a bad senator? Has she not represented the interests of New York state? Seriously, I don’t know. But if New Yorkers “got what they deserved”, then what exactly did they get? If Hillary Clinton hasn’t done badly by New York, why assume Franken will fuck over Minnesota? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/76 "2007-07-11T17:11:35Z")
Not worried he’ll “fuck over” Minnesota, worried he can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/77 "2007-07-11T17:15:04Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Not worried he’ll “fuck over” Minnesota, worried he can’t win. [/QUOTE] Well, who has a better chance in the primary, IYO – Franken or Ciresi? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/78 "2007-07-11T17:20:21Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Has Hillary Clinton been a bad senator? Has she not represented the interests of New York state? Seriously, I don’t know. But if New Yorkers “got what they deserved”, then what exactly did they get? [/QUOTE] They got a Senator who is very popular in her home state and seems to get credit for doing a good job. And Clinton, as far as I know, was recruited to run in New York. Moynihan was retiring, Rudy Giuliani was sure to run, and the local Democrats knew they needed someone with better name recognition than their available choices. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/79 "2007-07-11T17:23:23Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGoblin] Well, who has a better chance in the primary, IYO – Franken or Ciresi? [/QUOTE] Damned if I know! I’ve lived amongst these people for decades, and still haven’t the foggiest. When I saw Jesse Ventura wearing a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt and a pink feather boa to his Inaugaral Ball, I was sure that, after all these years, the drugs were finally catching up with me. On the other, when the Twins won the World Series, they pretty much turned off their TVs and went to bed. So don’t ask me, I’ll _never_ understand these people. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193/80 "2007-07-11T19:15:16Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Not worried he’ll “fuck over” Minnesota, worried he can’t win. [/QUOTE] …or, just worried that the goofball would use the “bully pulpit” to espouse his left-wingnut fantasies and ignore Minnesota altogether. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-al-franken-not-us/411193.md?page=5)