Senator Alan Stuart Franken?

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al-franken.jpg With the exit of trial lawyer Mike Ciresi from the Democratic Senate primary in Minnesota on Monday, Al Franken stands alone as the challenger to incumbent Republican Norm Coleman. Franken has run an exceptionally solid campaign that started early, raised money well, and avoided mistakes — he essentially left no opening for someone like Ciresi, a solid candidate who, under different circumstances, would have gotten a long look from the DSCC and probably could have given Coleman a serious run. It helped that Minnesota Democrats that I spoke to when I visited Minnesota were genuinely carefree about Franken’s unconventional past. “Humor is form of common sense,” said one man, when I asked him about Franken’s history of ribald jokes.

In 2004, Franken kept a diary for us on one of his several USO tours. And in 2006, we spoke to the dudes who made a movie about him.

Coleman is one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the Senate, and Minnesota should be a delightful state to watch as we near November 2008. After all, if Obama wins the presidency, we’re going to need a new Emmy winner in the Senate. And besides, it would be great to say that a sitting Senator has been in two of the worst movies of all time, Harvard Man and Stuart Saves His Family.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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