AL Franken Gets Serious About US Politics (to win back Wellstone's seat) [View All]

WP/Reuters: Comedian Al Franken Gets Serious About US Politics
Reuters
Wednesday, November 9, 2005


...."The next thing I am doing is moving back home to Minnesota and getting involved in politics," Franken told Reuters in an interview at his Air America radio studio. "I'm looking at a run for Senate in 2008, but in the meantime I am focused on knitting together the progressive network in the upper Midwest."...Franken is starting a national tour to promote his new book "The Truth (With Jokes)" which has the usual political satire that has made him a top-selling humour writer.

A New York Times reviewer called it "an extended stump speech" for his political run."

The heavily researched book tackles topics such as Social Security reform, Iraq and the case of Terry Schiavo, which prompted a highly charged national debate on euthanasia earlier this year....

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He shrugs and shakes his head when asked whether wrestler Jesse Ventura's successful run for Minnesota governor inspired him. He prefers to talk about Paul Wellstone, the left-wing Democrat who died in a plane crash in the closing days of his 2002 campaign for a third term in the Senate.

It's Wellstone's seat, which went to Republican Norm Coleman, that he hopes to win back for the Democrats in 2008. "I knew Paul well; I campaigned for him a lot," said Franken. "He was a friend. A great guy."...


http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/08/AR2005110801716.html