To update a post from way back in November, I noticed today that Al Franken is still considering a run for the U.S. Senate against Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who defeated Walter Mondale in 2002 after Paul Wellstone’s tragic plane crash just two weeks before the election.
Comedian and liberal talk show host Al Franken put the odds of a challenge against Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., in 2008 at better than 50-50, and said he would make a decision by late next year.
“I’ve thought about it and discussed it with my family more,” Franken told The Associated Press Saturday, before attending the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner here. The only holdout, he said, is his 19-year-old son Joe, who is worried he’ll see less of his father.
Franken is already seeking advice from some good sources.
Franken, who first floated the idea of running for Senate last year, said he’s spoken to state and party officials, political operatives, and a couple of senators, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., about it.
“I asked Hillary, ‘Can you give me some suggestions about running for Senate in a state you haven’t lived for in a while, or in your case, ever?'” he recalled, laughing heartily.
“And she said, ‘This will be a long conversation,’ so we agreed to have a long conversation about it.”
I’m definitely a fan of Franken’s work (books, SNL, radio program), though I’m a little concerned about the celebritization of U.S. politics. In general, I’m of the opinion that voters should look to experienced public officials, not entertainers, for political leadership.
That said, the GOP comparison between Franken and another celebrity Minnesotan seems unfair.
Coleman declined to comment, but the chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, Ron Eibensteiner, said, “This is a joke, right?”
“Minnesota experimented with one Ventura-type of candidate,” Eibensteiner said, referring to professional-wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura. “I would be extremely surprised if Minnesota experimented with another one. It just didn’t work the first time.”
Granted, Ventura’s reign in Minnesota wasn’t exactly a golden moment for American democracy. But the truth is Ventura and Franken have very little in common other than having a background in the entertainment industry.
Ventura was a wrestler, best known for his pink boas. His campaign for statewide office was marked by pride in not knowing anything about government. His service in government was marked by guest commentary on XFL games and a book in which he bragged about his experiences with prostitutes.
Franken, meanwhile, is a Harvard graduate who has served as a fellow with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.
He may have played Stuart Smalley, but Franken is a serious and educated person who grasps public policy in a way that Ventura never could.