An Angry Al Franken.

Last night at the debate you saw an very upset Al Franken at the end. Franken waited to the end of the debate to confront Senator Coleman. Franken got in the senators face as the mics were turned off. Then started to yell at Coleman.

Minnesota Democrats Exposed has video up. You can see Coleman tiring to settle Franken down plus then Frankens wife comes on and takes him off the stage. As I could not get down there fast enough to hear what Franken was upset about, I did have some one sitting much closer tell me what it may have been about. It seemed that Franken was mad at Coleman for telling people that he ( Franken )was for the war first. Also that Coleman tell lies about what Franken stood for. Yet the fact is what Coleman said yesterday was the truth.

Is it me or is Al Franken not sure what office he is running for?

So I just got home a short time ago from the debate at U.M.D. The debate was well attend I will post specifically about the debate soon.

Here however I want to talk about Al Franken and how odd it was to listen to him talk tonight. It almost seemed like he did not know what office he was running for. Talking more about President Bush then Norm Coleman. Franken talked about President Bush and the last 8 years more tonight then I have ever heard him talk about it. I have listened the prior two debates and seen him in many speeches and tonight you would think that Franken was running fro President.

Franken maybe should have thought of running against President Bush four years ago. I think the other two candidates were a bit shocked at the amount of focus on the Bush that Franken did tonight.

Franken also is the biggest chicken I have ever seen. Well both Coleman and Barkley stayed to talk with those that attended the debate Fraken went out the back door and took off.

Early Predications on the election.

As always this is not how I will vote but it is a predication. In fact on most of these I more then likely will not be voting for many of these people.

President:

At this point I have to give the edge to Obama ( God help us all.). I hope things will change but not sure they will. Well most polls have McCain down by 2-4% points one ultra liberal poll has Obama up by 14%. The race will be much closer then that.

I think McCain is in better shape then some think he is. Yet yes I do believe he is behind in the polls. I am one that does not think much of polls and believes the only poll that matters is the one in November.

The media has played a huge roll in this election and it has been very pro Obama. He has gained there support. Now as far as media I think one of two things. News outlets should either not be allowed to have a political leaning or they should have to say what it is up front.

Predication: As of now

Obama

U.S. Senate race:

I also am in in the believe that this race will be close. There was a time that Al Franken was way down and it did not look like he could rebound http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/08/sinking-ship-that-is-al-franken.html. Now polls show the race to close to call with some polls having Coleman up and yet others have Franken up by just points either way.

Well Dean Barkley will and has played a roll in this election. Lets be clear he will not win. Barkley a former U.S Senator (appointed) not elected has run a strong campaign. Barkley seems to be taking more support away from Coleman then Franken.

"Negative" campaigning has also seemed to hurt Coleman more well both candidates are doing the same amount. I have said a few times that Coleman should focus on the issues and if he does so I think he would win http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/09/coleman-and-franken.html.

Predication: As of now

To close to call, I think however Barkley will be in 20% range or so.

Doug Johnson supporting who?

Long time DFL ( now retired) Staete Senator from Tower is going to support and vote for an unlikely candidate. Johnson always votes for the DFL candidates. Johnson said the this is first time if 40 years ( ten years longer then I have been alive) that he is voting for a republican.

Well the star trib article http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/29866779.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU , does not say why he is not supporting Franken it does say that he things Coleman is the candidate to work with both sides of the aisle.

Johnson said this is the only race he is voting for a republican. He will vote for the Democrats the rest of the ticket.


More he as wellhttp://www.virginiamn.com/articles/2008/09/28/news/doc48def75a38cfc857117666.txt . DP will have any updates on this story. More on this later tonight as well.


Johnson is a well respected Democrat in Northern Minnesota and the State as whole. This endorsement is huge for Coleman.

Coleman and Franken.

I think it is time for Coleman to stop with the ads against Al Franken's jokes. Well I think it worked well in the beginning it seems to be costing him now. Franken has cut into the lead and almost made this a dead heat race. Something I thought would never happen.

I thought Coleman would walk away with this race hands down. I however now thing that the people are just sick of hearing about the bad jokes and the not paying taxes of done by Al Franken. Yes I believe that his jokes our rude and crude and I personally agree with the ads that Coleman has out but now is the time to talk about issues.

Right now it seems almost like the voters are sympathetic to Franken I am not sure why that is. Because at the beginning it worked well. It may be an over kill.

I think if Coleman can get back to the issues he will win hands down. Franken is hard pressed to have an idea of what do about anything. He is much like Obama voting present in major votes in the Chicago.

The sinking ship that is: Al Franken

Al Franken trails by 15 points in the latest polls. He has lost ground from the start of this election. It is clear that Minnesota does not want him as there senator.

To add to all the problems he is having he held an event on Friday in St. Cloud were just one veteran showed up. http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080809/NEWS01/108080047/1009.

He thinks he is a funny person yet what is even funnier is his campaign. You can bet from now that the Franken team will plant people at there events to make sure there are people there. Next time you hear of a big crowd at his event you need to think how many of them are plants by the Franken campaign.

LOL

This lady Priscilla Lord Faris is running against Al Franken for the Democrats. She has been a long time DFLer. See is not happy that Al is so far behind. In the latest polls Coleman is 15 points better the Franken. Coleman would be well better then that is this lady was there candidate.

Jesse Venture to run for Senator?

The political version of Brett Farve would be Jesse Venture. Venture a former Governor of Minnesota (unfortunately). May or may not run for Senate seat currently being held by Norm Coleman. http://www.colemanforsenate.com/

Current Senator Norm Coleman already has one challenger the democrat endorsed candidate Al Franken, http://www.colemanforsenate.com/. Franken a former talk show host on Air America and comedian has had trouble as of late. He has had many issues face him head on in his big to unseat Senator Coleman. The race however is long from over.

There could be more challengers on top of the former Governor Jesse Venture.

More to come later.

Franken kicked off his campaign.

Newly endorsed DFL candidate Al Fraken kicked off his general campaign today in Duluth. He made stop at the Labor Temple in the Wellstone room today from 2:30 to 3:30 this afternoon.

We are expecting details soon of his visit from our staff. Stay tuned for more.

Best news yet.

Thank you to the DFL for the endorsement of Al Franken today. The DFL endorsed there candidate today in at the State convention.

Today they chose to endorse Al Fraken to run against Norm Coleman. I was a bit shocked that there was an endorsement today. I was thinking they were going to go with no endorsement at all. With the troubles of Al Franken it almost ensures Mr. Coleman a victory. If you are unaware of the many problems that Franken has had you can view them at Minnesota Democrats Exposed, www.http://www.http//www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com/.

Norm Coleman event.

Norm Coleman was in Duluth Wednesday to kick off his campaign. About 150 people gathered to hear the Senator. Coleman speech was about getting things done, and being optimistic about the country. You may not always agree with the way we move but everyone must be optimistic and open minded. He also said that he will work and has worked with everyone in the senate. You must be willing to give and take not just take. His likely Challenger is a person known for just taking.

Coleman said that Franken does not have a record to stand on. I in a way agree and in another way disagree. get in to that later. Coleman said I will run on my record. I will run as a proud republican. My accomplished record stands for it's self he said.

After his remarks Senator Coleman took the time to talk with everyone that wanted to. He was a treat to meet and see. I look forward to seeing him again, and getting him re-elected as Senator.

Mike Ciresi Drops out of the Senate race.

The best DFL candidate in my mind dropped out of the race yesterday. I was not going to support Mr. Ciresi however I thought he was the best candidate the DFL had. I first read the news at www.minnesotademocratsexposed. Followed by a story on the www.duluthnewstribune.com site.

My first thought was, to bad. The best candidate they offer drops out because he feels he can't win the nomination. I was cheering for Mr. Ciresi to win the DFL nomination. I then expected a tight race for the guy I do support Senator Coleman. Mike offered the a common sense approach on many issues. It does not matter if you agree with him or not. He and I don't agree many times, however in the few times I have had the chance to talk with him he was very respectful.

Senator Colman had this to say about the news, "Mike Ciresi should be applauded for his willingness to get into the arena and his desire to serve. He and I both share a common path in having raised our families here and making a commitment to serving the people of Minnesota through public and community service. He would have been a formidable opponent. Laurie and I and our family extend our best wishes to Mike and Anne."

I think by Ciresi dropping out of the race it will only help the re-election Mr. Coleman. It sure is my hope anyway. I don't see a lot of the people that would have voted for Mike voting for Al Fraken. Even if Ciresi endorses him.

Fraken- can he raise enought money?

Al Franken Faces Deep-Pocketed Opponent( this was on news max www.newsmax.com)

Liberal comedian Al Franken is in for a tough battle as he seeks the Democratic nomination for a Senate seat from Minnesota now that high-powered lawyer Mike Ciresi has thrown his hat into the ring.

Ciresi is best known for a multibillion-dollar settlement he engineered with the tobacco industry. He also served as counsel to the government of India against Union Carbide over the Bhopal catastrophe, and represented women rendered infertile by the Copper 7 IUD.
The trial attorney ran for the Senate in 2000 as a self-described progressive moderate, but lost the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary to Mark Dayton in a four-way race.
Ciresi spent nearly $5 million of his own money and raised another $1 million for the primary race. He has said he’s not planning on self-funding his new campaign, but he’s not ruling it out, according to the Washington, D.C.-based publication The Hill.

For his part, Franken — who recently left the Air America radio network — raised more than $1 million for his Midwest Values political action committee in the last cycle, “showing the fund-raising prowess needed to run in one of the marquee races in the nation,” the Hill reports.
David Schultz, a political expert at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., told The Hill: “What you have is probably the two best-financed candidates who have entered early and probably will scare off just about everybody else at this point.”

Ciresi and Franken are targeting the Senate seat now held by Republican Norm Coleman, who narrowly won in 2002 after Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash.

What are your thoughts do you think Franken will be the democrats choose to run against Coleman? Can Franken raise enought money to compete with others that will enter the race? Or is this articale just a bunch of smoke? Lets have some converstation about it.