Free Republic

In the ad, "Excuses," eight-year-old Allison tells the camera that, like Al Franken, she doesn't pay taxes, but unlike Al Franken, she knows that Al's excuse for not paying taxes doesn't work -- not even in third grade.

Senate candidate Al Franken is spending just a "couple of days" at the Democratic National Convention, but by the time he dropped in on the Minnesota delegation breakfast Monday, he sounded a little homesick. "I've got to get back ..." he said, catching himself. "I want to get back to the fair." Franken is keeping a low profile at the convention, passing up a chance to appear on stage Wednesday night with other Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate. The Wednesday time slot was selected after Franken had already made his travel plans, according to an aide.

Turns out that Al Franken had a chance to speak, if only briefly, at the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver. But he turned it down to squeeze in more face time with voters at the State Fair. Officials with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) said that they asked Franken to join a handful of Senate challengers at the podium early next Wednesday evening. The convention has scheduled about 10 minutes for the candidate showcase, which will include U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Maine, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and U.S. Rep....

The L.A. Times blames the lack of interest by voters in Veterans Issue as the reason for the almost-zero attendance. Heh.

This St. Cloud Times story about only one person attended a public event for Al Franken yesterday hit the Drudge Report. “ONE Person Shows Up At Franken Event..” This story is turning into a national embarrassment for Team Franken.

Warning: The following contains extreme vulgarity by a candidate for the United States Senate. In the nationally important Senate race in Minnesota, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is presented with a unique political problem. Should he raise in his ads the issue of comedian Al Franken's offensive vulgarity? Or would this risk a backlash against Coleman for coarsening the public conversation? Remember that when Ken Starr detailed Bill Clinton's most repulsive antics -- stained dresses and such -- it was Starr who was accused of sexual obsessiveness. Franken's defenders explain that his edginess is the result of being a "satirist" --...

In an interview with NPR's David Welna that ran today former Gov. Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Ind-Minn., says he will run for Senate, challenging incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., whom Ventura defeated for governor in 1998, as well as Democratic nominee and former Saturday Night Live humorist Al Franken. Ventura, born Jim Janos... Ventura had a stormy tenure as governor and horrible relations with the Minnesota press corps. Thus, it was the June issue of a local wine magazine where he chose to drop hints about his pending campaign. Ventura called Franken an opportunist and a carpetbagger. "He hasn't lived...

Democrats are getting desperate. Even with all their pomp and circumstance and rhetoric about their dominance of the political arena, they are taking the steps of a desperate party. Case in point, their leveraging of relationships with nefarious characters and out-of-touch liberals to raise money for fledgling Democrat Senate campaigns across the country. Last week Politico reported that, “Los Angeles’ top liberal female activists are planning the political fundraiser for Sept. 27 at a private home.” According to the article, “The idea started with alums of the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee, a Reagan-era power PAC that included Jane Fonda, Kate...

Comedian Al Franken, who is looking to unseat incumbent senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), has a problem with porn. Not ribald humor created by someone else that he downloaded to his computer in the privacy of his home, but material he created for public consumption. A former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, Franken wrote a 1,478-word article titled “Porn-O-Rama!” for the Y2K issue Playboy. Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson gives a pithy summary: [H]e enthuses that it is an "exciting time for pornographers and for us, the consumers of pornography." The Internet, he explains, is a "terrific learning tool. For example,...

Warning: The following contains extreme vulgarity by a candidate for the U.S. Senate. In the razor-close and nationally important Senate race in Minnesota, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is presented with a unique political problem. Should he raise in his ads the issue of comedian Al Franken's offensive vulgarity? Or would this risk a backlash against Coleman for coarsening the public conversation? Remember that when Ken Starr detailed Bill Clinton's most repulsive antics -- stained dresses and such -- it was Starr who was accused of sexual obsessiveness. Franken's defenders explain that his edginess is the result of being a "satirist"...

<p>Former Gov. Jesse Ventura would trim support from both Sen. Norm Coleman and Coleman's DFL challenger, Al Franken, if he were to enter the U.S. Senate race, a Survey USA poll has found.</p>

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura would trim support from both Sen. Norm Coleman and Coleman's DFL challenger, Al Franken, if he were to enter the U.S. Senate race, a Survey USA poll has found. The poll of 700 Minnesota adults, taken last week, showed Coleman winning a three-way match over Franken and Ventura. Forty-one percent of poll respondents said they would support Coleman, compared with 31 percent for Franken and 23 percent for Ventura. The margin of error on that question was plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. If Ventura doesn't enter the race, 52 percent said they support Coleman and...

Noting that there were only 148 days left until the election, newly endorsed DFL Senate candidate Al Franken led a kickoff rally Monday on the steps of the State Capitol with a bluntly worded assessment of his rival, Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman. Coleman, he said, "hasn't brought people together to get things done. He's sold people out to get ahead." Minnesotans, he said, "need a senator who has their back. Norm Coleman isn't even on their side." In what is expected to be a common refrain, Franken, who received his party's endorsement over the weekend, linked Coleman to President...

Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken opened the next phase of his campaign to unseat Republican Norm Coleman by hammering the senator on his past allegiance to President Bush. Franken appeared at a state Capitol rally Monday with several top Democrats and congressional candidates, exchanging handshakes and pleasantries with some who hadn't been behind him until after he won his party's endorsement last weekend. Franken is staging a week-long tour of Minnesota. The humorist who made it big on "Saturday Night Live" said he expects Republicans to use his past off-color material against him. But Franken said he'll be reminding voters...

Just as DFL activists begin streaming into Rochester for a state convention that starts today, their top U.S. Senate candidate, Al Franken, is fending off still more slings on his troubled road to the nomination. On Thursday, an e-mail surfaced from one of the state's leading abortion-rights groups, Planned Parenthood, denouncing an article he wrote for Playboy in 2000, calling the piece misogynistic and degrading to women. And U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar broke a week-long silence to chastise him publicly for the piece, which she called "entirely inappropriate," and to ask him to acknowledge that. On Thursday evening, Franken's campaign...

Former Vice President Al Gore has endorsed Al Franken's bid for the U.S. Senate. The endorsement from Gore, who is extremely popular among Democratic activists, comes at a good time for Franken. On Saturday he squares off with peace activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer for the DFL endorsement at the state party convention in Rochester. In a letter sent to DFL delegates, Gore says Franken will make "a fantastic senator" and that they share the same goals on Gore's longtime effort to slow global warming. Nelson-Pallmeyer also landed an important, but considerably less high-profile endorsement. He's being backed by Ben Goldfarb, who...

In the last few months, I've gotten a flood of emails from readers suggesting stories about Al Franken and his follies. This vein could be a rich one to mine, given Franken's years of motor-mouthing on Saturday Night Live and Air America Radio, and his collisions with taxing authorities across the country. But I've let the Franken stories blow by, overwhelmed by their number. However, things changed last week when Franken's 2000 Playboy article -- "Porn-O-Rama" -- got stuck in my e-mail filter. I know what you're thinking: Kersten's got one of those prudish, Jerry Falwell-style family filters designed to...

Mike Ciresi tells reporters he hasn't ruled out a return to the DFL Senate race he dropped out of nearly three months ago. Ciresi, a wealthy attorney, says he's been getting a lot of calls from around the state, and has kept "intense interest in the race." Ciresi's comments came after one of his prominent supporters, Democratic Representative Betty McCollum, criticized a Playboy column by DFL Senate candidate Al Franken. Last week, McCollum had called that 2000 column offensive, and said it was a serious political problem for Democratic candidates this year. Franken remains the favorite to win the nominating...

Al Franken dodges the questions for 6+ minutes. Video at link.

enate candidate Al Franken's satirical and explicit take on virtual sex and other topics, published in Playboy magazine eight years ago, is drawing concern instead of laughter from some Minnesota Democrats. Rep. Betty McCollum, who supported the comedian's rival Mike Ciresi until he dropped out of the race for the party's nomination for the Senate, complained Thursday that she and other Minnesota Democrats will be on the same November ballot as a candidate "who has pornographic writings that are indefensible." "Do they spend all of their time defending him, or do they spend their time talking about issues that are...

Senate candidate Al Franken's satirical and explicit take on virtual sex and other topics, published in Playboy magazine eight years ago, is drawing concern instead of laughter from some Minnesota Democrats. Rep. Betty McCollum, who supported the comedian's rival Mike Ciresi until he dropped out of the race for the party's nomination for the Senate, complained Thursday that she and other Minnesota Democrats will be on the same November ballot as a candidate "who has pornographic writings that are indefensible." "Do they spend all of their time defending him, or do they spend their time talking about issues that are...

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum said that a Playboy column written by Senate candidate Al Franken eight years ago was offensive and presents a serious political problem for Democratic candidates this year. McCollum, who had supported Franken rival Mike Ciresi until he dropped out of the race, told The Associated Press on Thursday that she was worried that Minnesota Democratic congressional candidates will be running with a candidate "who has pornographic writings that are indefensible." "Do they spend all of their time defending him, or do they spend their time talking about issues that are important to this election?" she asked....

EAGAN, Minn. — On a laptop at a kitchen table in this cheery Twin Cities suburb, headlines ripping into Al Franken ... are written up day after day for Minnesota Democrats Exposed, a political blog created by a former Republican Party researcher. * * * But Minnesota Democrats Exposed has dealt several blows to Mr. Franken’s campaign lately: revelations that he owed $25,000 to the State of New York for failing to pay workers’ compensation insurance and that his corporation was in forfeiture in California. With only weeks until the state Democratic Party’s convention, where Mr. Franken is expected to...

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura said he "may" file the necessary papers to run for the U.S. Senate in the November election. If he doesn't, his former campaign manager will. Both are hinting at a run against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and likely Democratic candidate Al Franken this fall. The only question seems to be: Will it be Ventura, or the man who helped him become governor? Ventura's former campaign manager, Dean Barkley, now works as a bus driver and gardens as a hobby. "Ear to the dirt, listening to the pulse of the people," he joked Thursday. But Barkley, who...

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman has opened a seven-percentage point lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken in his bid for re-election. Coleman, widely considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents of Election 2008, attracts 50% of the vote for the first time this year while Franken earns support from 43%. A month ago, the incumbent Senator led the comedian 48% to 46%. Two months ago, Franken had a three-point lead over Coleman. That was before another Democratic candidate, Mike Ciresi, withdrew from the race. Coleman now leads Franken by nineteen points among men...

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is a college professor with a long history of political activism and fearless liberalism.—AP, 5-11-08, profile of candidate for Minn. Dem primary nomination [emphasis added]. Fearless liberalism? Fearless? It's fearless for an American college professor to be a big-time liberal? Give me a fearless break! Yet that's how the AP described the predictably left-wing politics of the man challenging Al Franken for the right to challenge Republican Norm Coleman for his seat in the US Senate. Among Nelson-Pallmeyer's positions: * opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances * suppport nationwide legalization of same-sex marriages * favors a...

Election day is exactly six months from Sunday and Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race will be one of the most closely watched in the nation. DFL candidate Al Franken jumpstarted his campaign with a rally the day before Republican Norm Coleman officially announced his reelection bid. Since then, headlines have not been kind to Franken. First, a $25,000 fine for not paying workers’ compensation insurance in New York. Then he revealed he is paying $70,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest to 17 states. In the latest SurveyUSA poll about Franken's tax troubles, 500 people were polled. Of those people, 59...

Al Franken's accountant hasn't talked to reporters since Franken blamed him for giving him bad tax advice. But tax experts say the accountant should have known that Franken, who is seeking the DFL endorsement to run against GOP Sen. Norm Coleman, needed to pay taxes in the 19 different states where Franken earned money in the last four years. Minnesota Public Radio News contacted 60 local accountants, and heard back from a dozen of them. They all said Franken is ultimately responsible for making sure he pays taxes in the right states. most of them also echoed Woodbury tax accountant...

First came the revealation of his failure to pay workers' compensation insurance in New York. Then came the revelation of his failure to file corporate tax returns in California. This week it was revealed that Franken owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states.

Responding to new Republican charges that DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken hid income from California tax authorities for years, Franken's campaign said Thursday that his accountant is trying to sort out whether taxes are owed. Campaign manager Andy Barr said Franken is eager to resolve the matter, the latest in a series of controversies surrounding his personal corporation, Alan Franken Inc. "Al feels that because his name is at the top of the organization, he takes ultimate responsibility for everything that goes on," Barr said. "But if there's a mistake that's been made, he's pretty insistent that the accountant...

The Franken campaign said the corporation had stopped doing business there and was advised by an accountant that no more filing was required. A state official said AFI needed to dissolve itself first. DFL Senate candidate Al Franken owes at least $4,000 to the state of California after failing to file state income tax returns for his personal corporation since 2003, officials said today. Franken, widely considered the front-runner for his party's endorsement to face U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, apparently hasn't done business in California for years but failed to take steps to dissolve the corporation, Alan Franken Inc. (AFI)...

Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken's personal corporation didn't file corporate income tax returns in California from 2003 to 2007. A spokesman for the California Franchise Tax Board said the corporation, Alan Franken Inc., owes a minimum of $800 per year as well as penalties and interest to the state of California. John Barrett, spokesman for the Franchise Tax Board, said in order to stop filing corporate income tax returns that Franken's corporation needed to officially dissolve itself in the state of California. He said that was never done. Franken's corporation is now considered forfeited by the state of California. A...

More than a month ago, investigative GOP blogger Michael Brodkorb in Minnesota first broke the news that Al Franken had violated New York state’s worker compensation laws. The Franken campaign finally ‘fesses up: DFL Senate candidate Al Franken acknowledged today that his New York-based business wrongly failed to provide workers’ compensation insurance for nearly three years, his campaign said.According to campaign manager Andy Barr, after five weeks of investigation the accountant for Alan Franken Inc. (AFI) was unable to figure out “the exact circumstances that led to the oversight.”However, the accountant “has determined that, in fact, AFI was not in...

As his official campaign kickoff approaches, Sen. Norm Coleman on Monday scolded DFL opponent Al Franken for a 12-year-old video that includes Franken reading a racy passage in a faux-Asian accent from one of his books of political satire. The video, excerpted by Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb from YouTube.com, shows Franken in 1996 reading from his New York Times bestseller "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations." The portion at issue is part of a fantasy story that Franken concocted about former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich serving in the Vietnam War and meeting a "pouty sex...

My NARN colleague Michael Brodkorb discovered this nugget of Al Franken’s comedy genius last week, and today the Minnesota GOP has demanded an apology from the Senate hopeful for his sexist and racist routine. Franken reads a chapter from his book Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat Idiot, And Other Observations called “Chickenhawk” and supposedly recounts a sexual fantasy of Newt Gingrich. It goes without saying that this is Not Safe For Work.(Warning: Video Contains Strong Language) The GOP sent out its review of the comedy stylings of Al Franken in a press release today: “The outrageous and offensive ‘comedy’...

With the unexpected departure of Michael Cerisi from the Minnesota DFL primary race to select a challenger for Norm Coleman’s seat, everyone assumed that Al Franken has the nomination by default. Another candidate remains in the race, one with whom I have a brief personal connection. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a University of St. Thomas professor, plans to challenge Franken from the left, and that may be putting it mildly, as John McCormack notes at the Weekly Standard: Yet Franken still has one obstacle to winning the Democratic nomination: Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a little-known professor of “Justice and Peace Studies” at the University...

Attorney Mike Ciresi said this afternoon that he is dropping out of the race for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in Minnesota. His decision leaves political satirist and commentator Al Franken and University of St. Thomas professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer as the leading Democratic candidates seeking to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

While his accountant investigates what happened, DFL Senate candidate Al Franken will pay a $25,000 penalty he owes New York state for failing to carry workers' compensation insurance for nearly three years for people who worked for his personal corporation. "We decided to make the payment and the accountant can deal with the files," which promises to be a complicated and detailed process, said Jess McIntosh, a spokeswoman for the Franken campaign. If it turns out that the New York Workers' Compensation Board was in error, Franken's corporation -- Alan Franken Inc. -- would likely receive a rebate on the...

DFL Senate candidate Al Franken owes a $25,000 penalty to the New York State Workers' Compensation Board for failing to carry workers' compensation insurance for employees of his namesake corporation from 2002 to 2005, state officials said. New York officials have made numerous attempts to contact Franken about the matter since April 2005 but have gotten no reply. Campaign spokesman Andy Barr said that neither Franken nor his wife, Franni, were aware of the matter before Tuesday. They have lived in Minneapolis for the past few years and did not know about the state's attempts to reach them in New...

A savage fish deadlier than a piranha that has killed people has been caught on British shores for the first time. The giant snakehead - so called because of its long body and fearsome teeth - was caught by an angler in Lincolnshire. Dubbed the "gangster" of the fish world, it eats everything it comes across and has even been reported to kill people. Scroll down for more... A snakehead, known as the 'gangster' of the fish world, was caught in Lincolnshire The monster, which is from south-east Asia, can also "crawl" on land and survive out of water for...

The Minnesota Public Radio News/Humphrey Institute Poll indicates DFL Senate candidate Al Franken poses more of a re-election threat to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman than any of the other DFL candidates. The poll indicates that if the election were today Coleman and Franken would be in a statistical dead heat. The poll took the pulse of 917 Minnesota residents over a one- week period that ended Sunday. It shows Coleman 5 points ahead of DFLer Mike Ciresi, and gives Coleman double-digit leads over Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Jim Cohen who dropped out of the race Friday. University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute...

"Comedian" Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota, this the media is happy to report. But, for some unexplainable reason, the media isn't so interested in reporting Franken's odd behavior. It seems that an ungovernable rage is always just under the surface with Franken, a rage that has several times broken free and resulted in assault and other violent or antisocial behavior. Why the media doesn't highlight this man's unstable behavior can only mean that they are lending him as much cover as they can to assist his campaign. His unprofessional and intemperate language is well-known,...

Al Franken has new television commercials playing locally about his deep and abiding concern for Minnesotans, part of his primary campaign to win the Democratic nomination to challenge for Senator Norm Coleman's seat. It talks about how he grew up in St. Louis Park among the fine people of the state. That apparently only applies to Democrats, however, even when stumping for votes. Otherwise, Franken demonstrates nothing but scorn: According to Fritz, things started out fine with him taking photos of fellow Carls (that's what [Carleton College] students call themselves) with Franken. Then Franken's curiosity was raised about why Fritz...

Franken announced in February his candidacy as a Democratic contender for the U.S. senate seat now held by first-term Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, who many see as one of the most vulnerable national incumbents, The New York Times reports. Franken is in a competitive race for Coleman's seat with Mike Ciresi, a lawyer who has run for the job previously. Franken lobbies potential voters to support his claim the former comedian is a serious contender, arguing his political commentary as of late offers credibility. Franken and Ciresi are both impressive fundraisers, raising $1.89 million and $1.7 million, respectively, the Times...

Even as Al Franken stretches out his big doughy hand to another potential voter inside Nina’s Coffee Cafe on a recent morning, it is easy to forget that Mr. Franken, the former “Saturday Night Live” star, the satirist and author, the liberal radio host, is trying to be elected to the United States Senate. “They should be allowing more dogs in places,” Mr. Franken deadpans to the voter, “dogs in grocery stores, dogs in hardware stores.” Would-be senators do not usually meander into such lines of conversation. Nor do they make up silly songs incorporating the names on their list...

The Norm Coleman campaign takes Al Franken seriously, at least seriously enough to do their homework on the former comedian, author, and talk-radio host. If Franken wins the nomination from Michael Cerisi to challenge Coleman in the general election, he will not find Coleman unprepared. The campaign has already readied its first ad, and this one -- on Franken's attempts to triangulate on Iraq -- will leave a big mark: Here are the key parts of the transcript, all of which come from video or audio recordings of Franken over the past eighteen months: “We have to start a withdrawal,...

The major DFL U.S. Senate candidates met before a packed house Tuesday night in Minneapolis, tackling issues such as President Bush, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and one another. With the debate at Roosevelt High School still going on as this edition went to press, university Prof. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer was a crowd favorite, calling for a national single-payer health care system and decrying U.S. involvement in Iraq. Environmentalist Jim Cohen called for complete troop withdrawal from Iraq by April 2008. Entertainer and political commentator Al Franken said the United States should withdraw -- but "not precipitously" -- from Iraq. He said...

When pitted against Democratic comedian Al Franken, Republican Senator Norm Coleman edges closer to 50% support in the most recent Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Minnesota Senate race. He now leads Franken 49% to 42%, up from a five-point lead of 46% to 41% in September In March, Coleman enjoyed a double-digit lead of 46% to 36%. Senator Coleman currently faces a somewhat tougher challenge from leads wealthy trial attorney Mike Ciresi 46% to 43% (see crosstabs). Those figures are little changed since September.

Washington -- When Fred Thompson entered the contest for the Republican presidential nomination in September, he became the latest of a growing number of actors seeking to translate stage and screen skills and charisma into political success. Earlier examples range from spectacular successes -- the late President Ronald Reagan and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -- to several brief congressional careers built on starring television roles – Sonny Bono (The Sonny and Cher Show), Fred Grandy (The Love Boat) and Ben Jones (The Dukes of Hazzard). Zelda Fichandler, director of the graduate acting program at New York University, cites an...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberal Al Franken is good enough and smart enough to win some of conservative Ben Stein's money — and doggone it, Stein likes him. Stein, an actor, writer and economist, has contributed $2,000 to Franken's Minnesota Senate campaign. The two men have known each other for about 30 years. "I'm struck by what an incredibly capable, hard-working guy he is," Stein told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. "He's a very smart liberal, he's a thoroughgoing patriot, and I would feel better with him in the Senate."