Sigh. I like Al Franken. And I'm from Minnesota. But his nomination is a symptom of the continuing celebrity obsession of the Minnesota Democratic party (called the DFL). Like some sort of addict, Minnesota Democrats keep reaching for familiar names and famous faces as saviors. It's like the Yankees in the 1980s, always trying to win by buying the biggest free-agent star and neglecting the farm system. Skip Humphrey, Mark Dayton, Amy Klobuchar, now Al Franken -- DFLers keep hoping that a famous name will finally let them break through again. It's been going on for a generation, and in the meantime Minnesota is a generally liberal state that hasn't elected a Democratic governor since 1986 and that almost tipped to Bush in both 2000 and 2004.

DFL, please, start promoting from within, stop nominating people because they're related to politicians your parents voted for or because they're already famous!

Sad, really.

Rhubs, was there a problem with Amy or Mark or Skip?  The first two won, and it looks like Humphrey qualified in his own right.

I think Franken is running not on his celebrity but in spite of it.  From what I know about him he's always been political.  He seems to have a short learning curve and is running a pretty good campaign.  Minnesotans aren't afraid to elect amateurs aka citizens -- look at Wellstone and Ventura -- which is a good thing, yes?  Were Wellstone's credentials more serious than Franken's?  Well, in a literal sense, yes, but in the Great Chain of Being, the bard comes before the philosopher.

Someone should write a 20,000 word essay on why Norm Coleman chose to end his short Senate career.

Although, I hope Senator Coleman wins the contest, the best possible thing for the Republicans would be to have a risible clown like Franken as a Democratic senator.

He'd be on air every other week saying or doing something ineffably stupid.

"He'd be on air every other week saying or doing something ineffably stupid."

Doubtful. But he could be the 60th vote every week that would break a Republican filibuster.

Republicans are currently in trouble in:  

Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, Alaska, Maine, Kentucky (?), and probably Minnesota.

Al Franken is one of the few liberals who actually put up a decent fight against the insanity of Rush Limbaugh, the Neocons and, of course, President George W. Bush.  Well, I should say the only one that Americans read in any sort of quantity.  The fact he made it funny was a bonus.

I, for one, welcome our new comedic overlords.

Cue the Paul Simon.

Hey, Minnesotans, enlighten the rest of us: has Franken dealt with the cocaine stuff about him from Tom Shales' book about Saturday Night Live?

I'm from Minnesota (my dad grew up with Al Franken and was friends with him for years ... but not lately) and I think this is bad news.  I think Ciresi -- anyone, really -- would be Coleman in a landslide.  But Franken will be susceptible to charges that he's a carpetbagger, Hollywood left-coast celebrity, etc.  (Even though Franken is the Jew from Minnesota, whereas Coleman is the Jew from New York, but anyway.)

So I think Franken can beat Coleman, but it'll be closer than Ciresi woulda been.  Oh well.

Fanken is an Asshole.

If I were a Democrat, I would not be too excited to have him running around in the Senate.

Wow, that was profound.  

So what was the real reason for Ciresi stepping aside?  The stuff in the article seemed rather boilerplate.  

And frankly, I don't care what he wins by--anything that gets the Senate closer to veto-proof...