The State Fair (Al Franken & Norm Coleman Style)–It’s a Minnesota Thing.
One of the best things about the Convention is taking in the local culture. In Minnesota that is the Mall of America and the State Fair. At the Minnesota State Fair you quickly learn that Garrison Keillor is right about the folks from Lake Woebegone: “The women are strong, the men are good looking and all the children are above average.” This second largest State Fair boasts, bacon on a stick, an all the milk you can drink for a $1 booth and the giant slide. Truly it was amazing large, about four times the size of the Big E.
The state fair also has its share of politics. Sure there were a lot of McCain and Obama buttons out, but the real race highlighted at the state fair was the Minnesota US Senate race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman the former mayor of St. Paul and failed Air America radio personality Al Franken (You probably know him best as Stewart Smalley). I got to see both candidates up close and get a good look at one of the closest races in the country.
Norm Coleman a Twins fan who took exception to my Red Sox hat, made the case for energy independence in the United States and consoled Minnesotans who had hoped Gov. Pawlenty would be in the #2 spot on the Republican ticket. He reminded them that it was Minnesota values that put the first woman on a national ticket when Walter Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and now 24 years later, it was a Minnesota convention that would nominate Sarah Palin who would be the first female candidate to actually win the Vice Presidency.
Later at the Franken booth he gave a stirring speech about the need to improve American education and invest research and development to spur the US economy. In true Stuart Smalley fashion, he joked, “The most recent poll has me with a commanding 1% lead and I see no reason why I can’t double that.” Franken continued, “We need a governing majority in the Senate. Right now we hold the majority by the skin of Joe Lieberman’s teeth.” He also urged people to get involved saying, “I need you to put a bumper sticker on the back of your car and not cut anyone off for the next 67 days. Franken drivers are going to be the most polite drivers on the road.” Franken drew big crowd, but I wonder how much was celebrity and how much was enthusiasm.
Franken calls it the Wellstone seat, and is campaigning on that tragic legacy. In the end though, Minnesotans may just stick with Norm. Why? Because he’s good enough, he’s smart enough and dog gone it people like him. One thing is for sure, this is a race I will be watching on November.
There is nothing "failed" about Al Franken's Air America career. If you don't like him, that's your right, but don't make things up. He was beating Bill O'Reilly in several major markets and without having 100s of liberal stations in place that'll just put anything on the air e.g. failed hosts like O'Reilly, Oliver North and Gamblin' Bill Bennett. Franken left the show to run against--and defeat--one lousy U.S. senator and he's leading at the moment.
I haven't heard a Minnesotan say they like Norm, but I live in the metro.
Last week the Mass Dems had the opportunity to hear Al Franken speak at one of their breakfasts.
This was my first encounter with him. I probably wasn't the only one in the crowd who was expecting him to be liberal (excuse the pun) with the use of humor in his speech.
But in this respect, he was surprisingly muted and pretty darn serious.
Yes, he used humor very well to make points in a way that would be the envy of most politicians. But overall, he struck me as a common-sense progressive who really knew his facts -- on energy independence and global warming, the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the federal deficit, the Bush record etc.
The impression I got was much more senatorial than Stuart Smalley!
LOL, Franken was leading BOR in major markets?
Thanks, I needed a good laugh and the part where you said "Don't lie" was so funny.
I have never been to this site. But given the way you praise Coleman and refer to Franken as "failed" it's apparent this is just another rightwing attempt to spin the truth to suit them.
This guy, Isaac Maas, is a delegate to the Republican convention. He's no objective reporter, but he chooses to write about a Democratic-Republican race as if he were. He failed to carry it off: it is obvious from his comments that he is biased. He should have stuck to some human interest story from within the party he belongs to.
I would agree, I hate admit I work in Radio and the facts are Fraken was beating O'Reilly, and that both NovaM and Air America Line up are consistently beating their conservative counter parts. Of course both formats are not as popular as my country music; I only point this out to show I am not a liberal station guy but someone just in the business.
Well, old norm is not a popular guy as people may think, when he ran for Senate in 2002, he did not win the popular vote in St. Paul, where he was the mayor.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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