Point-Counterpoint: Al Franken for Senate?

Along with the question of IF the Air America radio personality will run for Senate in 2008 comes the question of whether Al Franken SHOULD run. It’s a valid question, and one that many political activists ponder about various candidates in any cycle.

Bloggers and journalists do it too. In various conference calls and instant message windows, I’ve had several conversations with Robin Marty of Power Liberal and Minnesota Monitor on a potential Franken campaign. Invariably, I take the position that Franken should run, and Robin disagrees. Sometimes violently. While this is NOT an endorsement by any means, I believe that Franken should be given a fair hearing among other qualified candidates, for reasons I’ll begin to outline below. So what you’ll see here is a short-term call-and-response piece on the subject of Franken for Senate between myself and Marty.Bodell: Initial points in Franken’s favor – he has definite structural advantages. Like it or not, money is a factor in federal races, and Franken will bring in dough faster than anyone else in the field. His out-of-state connections will allow him access to big donors early in the game, which will quickly bring him up to parity with Norm Coleman in the money race. Then there is name-recognition. Whether they like him, hate him, or don’t feel any particular emotion toward him, people across Minnesota know Al Franken’s name. Other names bandied about – R.T. Rybak, Dean Johnson, even Betty McCollum – have geographic limitations. These aren’t unsurmountable problems (witness a high school teacher-turned-Congressman-elect from Mankato) but again, we’re talking about advantages for Franken here. Another advantage is that the groundwork is already laid. While he hasn’t technically been campaigning for himself in 2006, Franken has already spent a good deal of time raising money for and currying favor with establishment DFLers across Minnesota. His appearances on behalf of the DFL’s federal candidates, especially the successful ones, should curry plenty of favor come decision time in the 2008 cycle.

Marty: How much does the money benefit him if it paints him even further into the corner as an outside who isn’t really a Minnesotan? Franken has not been in the state long enough to truly establish himself as a Minnesotan to the stoics who feel you count such things by generations and not years. Coleman has been a recent transfer as well, true, but still has an advantage in years. And remember, the GOP tried also to raise the “backed by the Hollywood Liberals