Jonathan, as a former Minnesotan who got married in front of the "Vision of Peace" statue in the Ramsey County Courthouse/St. Paul City Hall (http://www.stpaul.gov/leisure/cityhall/), I can tell you that Minnesotans simply DON'T consider these people "oddballs".

New Yorkers, yes.
Jesse Ventura and Paul Wellstone, definitely Not!

"I was genuinely surprised that Minnesota Democrats ... were not more worried about Franken's ... lack of public service."

Lack of public service? You see that as a BAD thing? A LACK of "public service" should be your #1 requirement for ANY aspirant for public office. The fact that someone has not learned how to work the system to maximize their take from the public teet is a POSITIVE trait, not a negative one.

Let me guess, you're anti-Bush/Cheney. Well, Bush and Cheney both have entire LIFETIMES of public service. Are you beginning to get the picture?

Mr. Smith in "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" didn't have experience and he did well. Well guess what, in the real world, he would have been eaten alive.

The other scenario, everyone who goes to Washington is new. Then it becomes a scene out of "Survivor" and nothing gets done.

Yes, there is something quirky here. Third parties have always done better here than nationally. The reason the state Democrats are known as the Democratic Farmer Labor Party is because it's a merger of the the state Democrats and the Farmer Labor Party, which grew out of the Non-Partisan League and became the bigger party in the 1930's. If the DFL dropped the FL, a lot us us would take that as a sign the D had moved right, and restart the FL. Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, the opposition party isn't the Republicans, it's the Greens. By the way, my congressman is the first Muslim elected to Congress. Despite the image much of the country has of rural areas, our rural US House seats are all DFL right now (though that's true of much of the Midwest.) So yes, there's something different here.

Over the years Al has done some good private work that most are not aware of. I kinda think he will give Norm a good run for his money.

I've seen Franken speak many times in the last several years, sometimes in very small groups. Democrats in Minnesota are thrilled with his candidacy. We don't like bullies, and that's a big reason why we love Franken for standing up to the likes of Bush, Coleman, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, etc. He's smart and he is Minnesotan through and through. He will beat Coleman by 8 - 10 points. Frankly, Coleman came in much as Bush II did, illegitimately. Wellstone was ahead in the polls in 2002 and would have won reelection. Only his sudden death opened the door for Coleman, who has gone from Liberal Dem. and a Wellstone supporter to Bush faithful in a barely a decade. Franken will win.

Holding public office is no sure evidence of public service. Al Franken has rendered much honorable service to the public in his work on Air America, his several books on the increasingly surreal political scene and so on. Public office is really not his best next career move, so I credit him with choosing public service over self-interest. All evidence is that he will continue to use his special powers for good, whether he is elected or not. That is something we in the Upper Midwest value and support in candidates who are not in the standard mold. Our senator Russ Feingold here in Wisconsin is in the mold of earlier Progessives, and like Wellstone, is an example of how office-holders can actually operate in the public interest when they are not compromised by the legalized bribery that is now standard. Imagine if there were, not 1, but 2 principled NO votes the next time something truly awful like the Partriot Act comes on the Senate floor?

Jonathan,

Thanks for coming to MN to check out Al's campaign. I find it strange that you didn't write anything about Mike Ciresi's campaign or about the national media and national blogs only talking about Franken.

For anyone who would like more detail on this race, I've posted a considerable amount on it at my blog, mnblue. Since I cannot post HTML code, I cannot post direct links to the articles.

http://www.mnblue.com

Thanks!

The Big E
mnblue.com, home of the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter

Franken's "lack of community service"? His Air America radio show was community service for every community in the US - at the time, few media outlets were expressing the views he was, and it was accessible to anyone with an internet connection (and via radio to at least most major cities).

His show on Air America radio was important in swinging the tone of the US from "if you're not with us, you're UNPATRIOTIC" to greater truth-gathering and questioning and exposing of the executive branch and its policies. (I'm not saying AAR was the only factor, but it was an important component).