Franken: ‘We ran a very efficient campaign,’ wasted no effort in win

“When you win an election by 312 votes, there’s not a lot of effort that goes to waste,” Al Franken told Minneapolis Democrats Saturday. “We ran a very efficient campaign.” Franken nominated R.T. Rybak for endorsement for a third term as mayor at the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s city convention.

Outside of his own race for U.S. Senate, Franken has the magic touch, apparently: Rybak’s endorsement by the party, though a foregone conclusion this time around, is actually his first. Here is a minute-long video clip (via wr3n) of Franken’s remarks:

A lot of people here have been asking me, “What do I call you?” And the answer to that is: Al. There is only one person in the state who will have to call me senator and that, of course, is [his wife] Franni. I want to thank you all. You know, when you win an election by 312 votes, there’s not a lot of effort that goes to waste. We ran a very efficient campaign. And I want to thank each and every one of you who made our victory possible, and just let you know that I can’t wait to get to Washington and start working on behalf of all of [you? unintelligible].

Franken spoke as a delegate from Ward 7, Precint 9, and received a standing ovation more rousing than the crowd’s response to Rybak. That’s according to Aaron Landry, who also reported via Twitter:

Mayor: Rybak received 75 percent of delegates’ votes on the first ballot.

Park Board at-large (three seats): Mary Merrill Anderson, Tom Nordyke and John Erwin won endorsements by acclamation. (Anderson and Nordyke are one-term incumbents; Erwin previously served as a single term as at-large commissioner from 2002–06.)

Park Board, District Five: No endorsement for Jason Stone, Martin Demgen or Steve Barland to replace incumbent Carol Kummer — amid “chaos.”

Board of Estimate and Taxation: Carol Becker, an incumbent, got the only endorsement for two seats that voters will fill in the fall.

More results:

Park Board, District Two: No endorsement in contest between incumbent Jon Olson and Natalie Collins. (At lloydletta, you can see videos of candidate statements, questions-and-answers and balloting; Eva Young’s commentary here.)

Park Board, District Four: Newcomer Anita Tabb, the only candidate, won endorsement to replace Tracy Nordstrom, who is retiring as commissioner after one term.

Park Board, District Six: Challenger Brad Bourn beat out incumbent Bob Fine. (Via tweets by Downtown Journal’s Cristof Traudes)

Park Board, District One: Liz Wielinski won endorsement with 72 percent of the vote over Michael Rainville, for a seat being vacated by longtime city official Walt Dziedzic.

Park Board, District Three: One-term incumbent Scott Vreeland gained  endorsement again. (Via Steve Brandt, Star Tribune.)