Begich begs, so Franken adds Alaska, Hawaii to his freehand map of the USA

U.S. Sen. Al Franken has acceded to a formal request from Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) that the Minnesota senator add Alaska and Hawaii when he draws freehand maps of the United States as a parlor trick. Franken, whose 2007 campaign-trail performance of the stunt is on YouTube (see it after the jump), promised Begich that “henceforth, my marvelous hand-drawn map of the United States will include the forty-ninth and fiftieth states, which are either Hawaii and Alaska or Alaska and Hawaii.”

Politico has an exhaustive, heavily linked post documenting all the back-and-forth between Begich and Franken, with pdfs of both men’s letters (Begich cited his familial-political roots on Minnesota’s Iron Range), including a dot-to-dot puzzle that Begich sent along as a guide:

Franken traces the source of his talent to another kind of puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle from his youth:

First of all, let me be clear that I am very well aware that Alaska and Hawaii are states. It’s just that when I was a child, my parents gave me a wood puzzle-map of the United States, which then included only the forty-eight contiguous states.

It wasn’t until years later, sometime in the early to middle sixties, I believe, that Hawaii and Alaska became full-fledged members of the union. Please know that I have assigned a staffer to get me the hard data on this.

Anyway, the point is, I learned only the forty-eight states on the wooden puzzle given to me by my hard-working parents. To include Alaska and Hawaii, while certainly common-sensical, would, I am afraid, dishonor the memory of both my mom and dad.

However, since you are a colleague that is a sacrifice I’m only too happy to make.

Below is the YouTube of Franken drawing the (lower 48) states in three-and-a-half minutes, at a April 28, 2007, DFL fundraiser in Rochester, just two months into what became a two-and-a-half year struggle to reach the U.S. Senate. In the course of drawing the map, Franken keeps up a running commentary:

You know why Minnesota is so windy? The Dakotas blow and Wisconsin sucks. … Here’s where my wife’s from: Maine. No, it’s not the northernmost state. Don’t be ridiculous. We [Minnesota] were until– By the way, I will not draw Alaska and Hawaii. I refuse to. … I don’t know about you but I’m incredibly impressed. … Watch it speed up as we go out West where the states have too many electoral votes for [their] population.

On a personal note (and maybe I should send an actual personal note as Begich did), I’d like to ask Franken to include a dot for Mount Steller, in the Aleutian Islands — from which, as Begich says of Little Diomede Island, you can see Russia.