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Franken Seeks Advice on Bid for Senate
May 3, 2004 03:11 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - As Al Franken considers challenging Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., for re-election in 2008, the comedian and liberal radio host is looking to his hometown senator for advice: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"I asked Hillary, 'Can you give me some suggestions about running for Senate in a state you haven't lived for in a while, or in your case, ever?' " Franken recalled, laughing heartily. "And she said, 'This will be a long conversation,' so we agreed to have a long conversation about it."
Clinton, D-N.Y., moved from Washington to New York to run for the Senate. Franken was born in New York City and lives there now but grew up in the Minneapolis suburbs. He put the odds of running against Coleman at better than 50-50.
"I've thought about it and discussed it with my family more," Franken said. The only holdout, he said, is his 19-year-old son, Joe, who is worried he'll see less of his father.
Coleman declined to comment. Minnesota Republican Party chairman Ron Eibensteiner asked, "This is a joke, right?"
Franken said he probably would not take political action committee money but also would not put any of his own into a race.
"Absolutely not," he said, laughing. "If the staff went out for beers, I'd pick it up."
A month after the debut of his show "The O'Franken Factor" on the fledgling Air America Radio network, Franken said he is happy with the direction of the program. But he acknowledged that it is harder to be funny in the talk-radio format.
"It's certainly difficult to be funny for three hours, because you talk about very serious things," he said. "I'd like to loosen it up a little bit, and try to write a little bit more comedy for it, maybe make it a little less guest-heavy."
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He`s got to be kidding.....right?
May 3, 2004 03:11 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - As Al Franken considers challenging Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., for re-election in 2008, the comedian and liberal radio host is looking to his hometown senator for advice: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"I asked Hillary, 'Can you give me some suggestions about running for Senate in a state you haven't lived for in a while, or in your case, ever?' " Franken recalled, laughing heartily. "And she said, 'This will be a long conversation,' so we agreed to have a long conversation about it."
Clinton, D-N.Y., moved from Washington to New York to run for the Senate. Franken was born in New York City and lives there now but grew up in the Minneapolis suburbs. He put the odds of running against Coleman at better than 50-50.
"I've thought about it and discussed it with my family more," Franken said. The only holdout, he said, is his 19-year-old son, Joe, who is worried he'll see less of his father.
Coleman declined to comment. Minnesota Republican Party chairman Ron Eibensteiner asked, "This is a joke, right?"
Franken said he probably would not take political action committee money but also would not put any of his own into a race.
"Absolutely not," he said, laughing. "If the staff went out for beers, I'd pick it up."
A month after the debut of his show "The O'Franken Factor" on the fledgling Air America Radio network, Franken said he is happy with the direction of the program. But he acknowledged that it is harder to be funny in the talk-radio format.
"It's certainly difficult to be funny for three hours, because you talk about very serious things," he said. "I'd like to loosen it up a little bit, and try to write a little bit more comedy for it, maybe make it a little less guest-heavy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He`s got to be kidding.....right?
