Al Franken is a terrible candidate.

[JohnnyCougar]

His approval ratings can't even reach 50% in a blue state. Is there any state as blue as Minnesota currently housing a Bush Administration shrew like Norm Coleman right now? Maine and Oregon at least have Republicans that try to be moderate on some issues. Coleman is an ass, and would be beatable by nearly anyone the Minnesota DFL threw up there. Was Franken really the best option?

This Senate race shouldn't even be close, and if it wasn't, we'd already have six seats in the bag and the DSCC could focus on Oregon, Maine, North Carolina and Mississippi (and possibly Kentucky). We'd have our filibuster-proof majority. Instead, Franken is performing miserably. He comes off as a snide asshole. There's got to be some way of getting a different candidate.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I like Al Franken.

I could not disagree with you more. I have met him personally (under difficult circumstances, immediately following the death of Paul Wellstone), and he struck me as a very smart, decent, committed progressive. If he's not doing as well as we think he should it's almost certainly due to the slime Coleman's campaign is slinging around, unfortunately aided and abetted by this nitwit Patricia Lord Faris, who claims to be a Democrat but who just appeared in one of Coleman's ads.

[JohnnyCougar]

3. I'm not saying he's not smart.

It's not even that I don't like him. It's that I don't think he's very likable to swing voters and centrist Democrats. I've seen him in interviews, and he comes off as arrogant.

[Occam Bandage]

5. I like Al Franken a lot. He's a smart, dedicated man. He's also a terrible candidate.

It's dumb to blame his mediocrity on Coleman's campaign. Coleman has run a pretty fair campaign, I think; most of his ads are positive, and his negative ads don't lie. If Franken can't win without Coleman tying one hand behind his back, then Franken isn't a good candidate.

[dflprincess]

40. Most of Coleman's ads are not postive and his negative ads have

been tagged as "misleading". I have yet to hear Weasel-boy mention his record in any of his ads.

Franken is the one who has tried to stick to the issuess and didn't get negative until Norman did.

[bean fidhleir]

2. Of course he is - he's DLC at heart.

He's a lousy comedian, too.

[question everything]

31. Might as well as that he is a lousy bowler

as seen in Coleman's ad.

Funny, for me this would be a major reason to vote for him.

And Democratic candidates do not necessarily win in so-called blue Minnesota.

Look at Pawlenty - a McCain VP waanabe - who won the governorship twice.

[Occam Bandage]

4. Yes. Al Franken is a horrible candidate. He comes off terribly, he's a bad speaker, he has no real

ideas to speak of, his tax troubles make him look incompetent, and his rape-Leslie-Stahl and Sex-O-Rama "jokes" make him look like a grade-A asswipe. He's a terrible candidate all around.

Of course, the DFL didn't really have anybody good running this year. Ciresi is a perennial self-financed loser. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is an ivory-tower old man who didn't remotely connect with (and hardly bothered campaigning in) the outstate areas--and still he pulled 40% of the delegates at the convention, so unenthused was the DFL. I'm guessing Franken's early entry and huge early fundraising (almost all of which was from outside MN) kept all but the self-financed and the idealists from running; perhaps if he hadn't filed, Walz or Madia or Ellison would have.

Either way, he was a terrible, terrible choice. I wish he had just stuck to what he knows. He's good enough, and he's smart enough, but gosh darn it, people don't like him.

[Mnpaul]

26. Bad Speaker?

how many of his events have you attended? I'm guessing none. If you did you would see that they are packed to the walls everywhere he goes. Many of the events had to be moved to larger locations do to the number of people attending. At our county causcus he was the one who got everyone fired up, by far receiving the largest amount of applause from those attended.

[Occam Bandage]

27. I've attended somewhere between a dozen and twenty of his events, starting with

him speaking for Kerry at the Fair in 2004, and most recently two weeks ago. He's a lot better than he was in 2006, (and far better than the painful monotone performances put on by most county-caucus speakers) but even still he's hardly anywhere near "good." Sure, he can get a cheer or two--but only on pop lines like "In a few short months George W. Bush will hit the road," which amp up the faithful while doing absolutely nothing to persuade anyone else.

When he speaks about his ideas for governing, he seems uncomfortable and forced--which is surprising, given how natural he was on AAR or his USO shows, and how fluid he was bashing Bush in the '04 circuit. He's a great guy, but he's a marginal speaker, and a poor candidate.

[Mnpaul]

30. What makes him a poor candidate?

If he was such a bad candidate, would he still be tied with Coleman after all the negative attacks ads run against him. If he was such a bad candidate, why did he raise almost as much money in Mn as Hillary,Obama and Edwards combined(2 quarter?). I can trust Al. I know he won't sell us out to corporate interests. I can trust him to tell us the truth, he has been doing it for years. Who is more knowledgeable about the problems in Washington. Who is your idea of a good candidate?

[Fridays Child]

6. In *The Truth (with jokes)* he came off as so completely...

...self-centered that I really lost respect for him. It's sad that he would do poorly against a hairdo like Norm Coleman but it's not surprising.

[Occam Bandage]

8. That was the first of his books that I didn't buy.

I loved *Lies and the Lying Liars.* I loved *Oh, the Things I Know!* I liked *Why Not Me?*

I flipped through Truth With Jokes, saw a few things I recognized as bullshit (even if it was well-intentioned bullshit), didn't find the writing that funny, and put it back.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Al Can't Be Al

His greatest talent is his humor...something that doesn't work well in the political world, where, as we've seen, every word is parsed upside and down and then taken out of context. Anything that appears to be "untoward" gets blown out of proportion...especially if its satire (Al's tool in trade) that Al then has to backtrack and attempt to clarify. The problem then becomes having to react rather than be pro-active.

Al's had a leash on him during the campaign to appear as a serious candidate and, unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's working. His tax problems at a crucial time didn't help and then had to defend his writing in Rolling Stone...and unfortunately, Democrats who get in a hole like this have a problem digging out...they can't rely on a compliant corporate media to "explain" what he really means.

Let's see how Normie's housing situation works out...the one thing about political campaigns is that the loudest and last attack seems to hold the most merit on election day.

Seems like the Democrats in Minnesota feel he's a qualified candidate or they wouldn't have voted for him in the primary or thrown money at him.

[mahina]

9. Sorry to hear that. Do you think he'll be a good legislator?

From way over here, it looks like anybody with that much respect and aloha for Paul Wellstone would have to be a big improvement. What do you think?

[tblue]

10. Yeah, but we'd better help & hope he wins.

[K8-EEE]

11. Disagree, find him about a MILLION times more appealing than Coleman

Coleman, OMG, talk about a snide asshole!

[scarletwoman]

14. Yeah, but it's not what you find appealing that counts, it's what Minnesota voters find appealing.

And Minnesota voters aren't feeling like buying what Franken is selling.

sw

[Blarch]

12. You shouldn't lay the blame on Al.

I blame the people.

If you had to teach a monkey quantum mechanics you would fail in the worst possible way.

The weak link would be the monkey, not you.

[JohnnyCougar]

28. But that's why he's a terrible candidate.

No matter what, you need a candidate that appeals to what voters are, not what we want voters to be.

[scarletwoman]

13. Yup. It's really disheartening. I wanted so badly to be rid of Coleman, but I don't think Franken

has what it takes. The DFL really blew it.

The urbanites kept telling me how great he was, but I looked around my rural area and all I could see was a whole lot of voters who never heard of him and wouldn't like him even if they had.

It really sucks.

sw

[otohara]

15. How Do You Know This?

pretty bold statements for someone who doesn't live in MN. Unless you live in a state and read/see the day to day doings of a candidate - how could you possibly know what kind of candidate Al Franken is?

Snide asshole? Franken is a good guy - do you know how many times in his life he's gone on USO tours? Snide assholes don't do USO year after year. http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/01/05/cnna.franken/

Do you feel this way about Obama too? He can't get 50% - is he a snide asshole too?

[JohnnyCougar]

29. I don't think that Franken is a bad person.

All I said was that his demeanor certainly isn't very appealing to they type of voter that votes in Minnesota. I've spent plenty of time in Minnesota.

[otohara]

34. Snide Asshole

= good person. Thanks for clearing that up.

[JohnnyCougar]

43. Sigh.

How someone comes off and what they actually are are two different things.

[DogPoundPup]

16. Here is a link Franken fans (myself one) might want to see....

YouTube 'debate' kicks off with Franken and Coleman

Al Franken and Norm Coleman don't have any debates scheduled yet in the U.S. Senate contest. But you can see them answering questions about the issues on your own computer.

The candidates are the first in the country to participate in YouTube's 2008 election project, which the popular Web site is calling "YouChoose '08."

YouTube users submitted questions on topics ranging from energy policy to jobs to their own personality traits. Video clips featuring the candidates answering the questions are now live on the site.

In the coming weeks candidates in races all over the country will be participating in similar forums.

On the Net:

The Franken/Coleman answers can be found at: www.youtube.com/user/YouChoose08
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_10224100

[hfojvt]

17. surprisingly, Minnesota is not that blue

Kerry only won by 3.48%

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/83

and they've got Coleman and Pawlenty.

[Tutonic]

36. Agree! That is correct. Minnesota is a lot like Illinois, once

you get beyond the major metropolitan areas you'll run into a group of repressed conservatives.

[dflprincess]

41. Pawlenty has won both his terms with a plurality, not a majority

Both races were 3 way contests. The first one he won with under 40% (I think it was closer to 35%) the 2nd term I think he got closer to 45%, but both times the majority of Minnesotans voted for someone else. And Coleman won under some very strange circumstances - and he didn't win by much.

[creeksneakers2]

18. If Franken wins he'll be the best US Senator ever

I've read his books and watched him and listened to him and I'm a big fan. Franken says the kind of stuff that gets said on the Internet but no mainstream politician will touch. He's tied now with Coleman in the latest poll - 45% each. So the left has a good shot at finally having someone who speaks for them in the US Senate. Of course, he's not left enough for the fringe and he's too fringe for moderates. But he's a great defender of his causes and may well be accepted by those who have bad first impressions of him.

[Orsino]

22. Yep. On paper, he's magnificent.

On the radio, even, he's good. I'm actually charmed by his not being a classic politician, but it would be a shame if this kept him from taking Coleman's seat.

[Cleita]

19. Well, there's still time to get out the vote for Franken.

He is the guy who has to beat Coleman, so you will have to convince all those fence sitters and even moderate Republicans that Al is their guy.

[gulliver]

20. I think he's good enough, smart enough...

I like Franken. I can't wait to see him debate Coleman. I don't think people are seeing Franken's Wellstone side or Coleman's inner weasel. Give them time.

[Better Believe It]

21. Are You Saying That Democrats Need 60 Senate Members In Order To Accomplish Anything?

The Republicans only needed 51 members in the Senate to get their agenda passed!

Now explain why we need 60 votes and the Republicans only needed 51 votes to get their program adopted.

[Occam Bandage]

25. Yes. They're willing to filibuster anything and everything. We didn't.

Whether we should have is of course up for debate, but that debate doesn't have much to do with planning for the future.

[Better Believe It]

37. So What's The Problem? Let Them Filibuster ....

against all progressive legislation that benefits the people.

All filibusters end.

Let them filibuster in defense of the rich and powerful while we join in those debates as defenders and supporters of the working majority.

I bet if 60 Democrats are elected to the Senate (which is unlikely to happen) that some will find a new excuse of inaction by saying Democrats really need 70 in the Senate because some Democratic Senators will side with Republicans (which is true).

I'm tired of lame excuses.

If the Democrats with a Democratic President and control of Congress can't pass progressive legislation what good are they?

[Occam Bandage]

38. We do. And then nothing gets passed, and DU bitches.

A filibuster does not have to be a debate. Nobody has to be talking. Congress is not Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. All that needs to happen is that forty Senators need to say "Actually, you know what? I don't think we should vote on this bill." Then the bill is not voted on until sixty Senators decide that the bill should be voted on.

[butterfly77]

23. I don't care Coleman needs to go..

he is just an opportunist, by the way isn't his wife a porn star or has something to do with adult entertainment...

[undeterred]

24. There was a terrific progressive candidate

Jack Nelson Pallmeyer. But for some reason progressive candidates never get off the ground. Why? Because it takes money to get off the ground, and apparently progressives don't have it or won't give it.

[JohnnyCougar]

32. Jack was my brother's professor.

My brother was really pulling for him. I don't think he would have won in the GE, though, either.

[dflprincess]

42. Progressive have the national party working against them now as well.

In 2006 Ford Bell was running for the endorsement against Klobuchar - but Klobuchar was the DSCC candidate and Bell was pretty much steamrolled by the party structure even before the caucuses. He was much more progressive than Klobuchar and (I think) one of the smartest people I've ever seen run for office.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

35. As Jesse Ventura said.....

....any Democrat should wipe the floor with Coleman, but Franken's way of seemingly talking down to people or being snarky at the wrong time clearly rubs people the wrong way. And from what I know of people from Minnesota, they are the last people from any state you would need to condescend to.

[Blue_In_AK]

39. I'd vote for Al Franken in a heartbeat. n/t

[liberal1973]

44. Same here..

Al Franken made norm coleman look like the wishy washy candidate that he cleary is. Norm coleman is a republican rat just like bushco.