Al Franken

CNN reports that former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) will be a fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics in the fall. Six years ago, Al Franken — the man who took Coleman’s job — had a similar gig at Harvard, as a fellow at the Shorenstein Center. Franken used his resources to write “Lies and the [...]

The Senate just confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as the newest justice on the United States Supreme Court by a vote of 68-31.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), presiding over the vote, announced at 3:14 pm, “On this vote, the yeas are 68 and the nays are 31. The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor of New York to be an [...]

For a comedian-turned-politician with no formal legal training, the newest senator and Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor some of the most complex but elucidating questions about Supreme Court cases we’ve heard yet. After bonding with Sotomayor over their mutual love of the Perry Mason show as kids, [...]

Now that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is safely ensconced in his job for five and a half years, more videos from his earlier, funnier career are starting to leak out. This one is from the forgotten “Tunnel Vision” (1976), a sketch comedy film about a failing TV station (after the jump).

Well, sort of. During the 2008 Senate campaign, Al Franken would often tell a story about Paul Wellstone — who was five-foot-five and perpetually wired — egging on his son to finish a race. Franken would jump up and down, shaking his arm, stage-yelling “You can take this guy! You can take him!” (It’s at [...]

Josh Kraushaar writes the umpteenth appraisal of former Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) chances for a political comeback:
The conventional wisdom, fueled by an AP report today, is that he’d be a logical candidate and likely front-runner to succeed Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) in the governor’s mansion.
I wrote much of this back in June, but it hasn’t [...]

Talk radio has been abuzz with mockery of Sen.-elect Al Franken (D-Minn.) all day, but this must be the most ironic attack yet — a fake “interview” between Franken and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), created by “The Fred Thompson Show.” It’s reminiscent of Franken’s old trick of splicing questions with quotes from Rush Limbaugh [...]

John Gizzi talked to departing Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey, who breaks from Norm Coleman’s position on the Senate result and argues that the count was unfair.
The bottom line here is that ballots were inarguably treated differently, and the Supreme Court, in reviewing the case, never dealt with that fact.  In Franken-friendly counties such [...]

Al Franken, soon to be the junior senator from Minnesota, is no stranger to controversy after spending the last eight months fighting Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) over the results of last November’s election. But if Franken thinks he’ll find things any more restful in Washington, he should think again.
That’s because the soon-to-be-sworn-in freshman is slated [...]

This statement was just released by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele:
“I am deeply disappointed in the decision made by the state Supreme Court, and I share the frustration of Minnesota’s voters. At the core of our democracy lies two concrete principles: No valid vote should go uncounted and all votes should be treated equally. [...]