Al Franken's only competitor dropped from the Democratic primary race for US Senator representing Minnesota.
AP reported:
Al Franken won a resounding endorsement for the U.S. Senate on Saturday from Minnesota Democrats, quickly dispatching with concerns about jokes that offended some and promising a tough challenge to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.Besides his torrid wacky past, Franken will have to contend with Minnesota Democrats Exposed- a blog that has been doing yeomen’s work in Minnesota dogging Franken and doing the investigative work the MSM won’t do.
"To the people of Minnesota, let me say this: I'm not a perfect person," said Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer and performer. "I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers. But I'll tell the truth, I will keep my spine, and I will work for you."
Franken's only competitor, college professor and peace activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, withdrew after Franken passed the necessary 60 percent threshold on the first ballot. Nelson-Pallmeyer proposed that delegates unanimously back Franken, putting him over the top.
Franken's show of strength came as something of a surprise after a rocky few weeks in which some Democrats, led by U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, criticized a racy column he wrote for Playboy magazine in 2000 and, earlier this week, joking comments he was reported to have made about rape that were included in a 1995 New York magazine article about "Saturday Night Live."
...Nelson-Pallmeyer said he would work for Franken's election and won't run in the Democratic primary in September, and for now Franken is facing no opposition. But trial attorney Mike Ciresi, who dropped out of the endorsement race several months ago, has said in recent days that he is considering running in the primary.
Al Franken hsa been involved in many scandals including a report this year that he failed to comply with workers’ comp, disability benefits laws.
By the way...
FRANKEN DIDN’T APOLOGIZE TODAY FOR HIS GRAPHIC JOKES AND SATIRE
McClatchy Watch has more on the tax cheat and former Air America host.
This is proof that politics is a joke! I wouldn't want Franken to be a crossing guard let alone a Senator. He has to be one of most angry people I have ever heard.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising.
ReplyDeleteMinneapolis and Minnesota democrats do try very hard to be just like San Francisco.
I knew Franken casually from mutual friends when I lived in Minneapolis, this was way before he went to New York and became famous. He was an arrogant sawed off little asshole then and I seen he has not changed a bit.
Why don't Minnesota conservatives want to campaign on the issues instead of digging into Franken's past to find every little piece of dirt out there? Are they scared that if they run a campaign solely on the issues they will get hammered in the election?
ReplyDeleteAnon ...
ReplyDelete... if the honesty and integrity of the candidate is compromised, what he says about the issues may be compromised as well ... rendering any debate over the issues moot.
Of course, honesty and integrity have not been strong suits of the power-brokers in the Dim-ocrat Party since 1968, if not before.
If we were talking about Joe Liebermann, or Zell Miller ... now that would be another story. They have somehow escaped the ethics-ectomy (and total sense-ectomy) that seems to be a requirement for a leadership position.
But we are not ... and "Get me a limo" Franken fits right in with the Queen Bee and Sen. Warislost.
Nor should he apologize for his graphic jokes and satirist. He's a humorist. Humorists, in case you didn't know, write humor. If you don't like it, don't read it.
ReplyDeleteNor should he apologize for his graphic jokes and satirist. He's a humorist. Humorists, in case you didn't know, write humor. If you don't like it, don't read it.
ReplyDeleteThen don't demand an apology -- or demean them as ignorant prudes -- if the good people of his state do read it ... and decide not to elect him, because of it.
Each of us has the right to say even the stupidest of things ... and everyone else has the RESPONSIBILITY to declare them stupid, when fact and reason support that conclusion.
BTW, MN has another home-grown humorist that is far more astute than Franken ...
ReplyDelete...James Lileks