Mark Dayton. Photo: Facebook

Mark Dayton won the DFL primary largely without the support on traditional Democratic structures, instead relying on his name recognition and personal wealth. During the primary, challenger Margaret Anderson Kelliher received the party’s endorsement, and backing from a majority of the state’s traditional Democratic outside groups.

But now that the primary season has reached its conclusion, Democrats have coalesced behind Dayton’s campaign. The state AFL-CIO endorsed Dayton today. The organization is the latest union to support the DFL candidate, as other unions, such as Education Minnesota, have switched their endorsement to Dayton after Kelliher lost the party primary.

Don Davis at Capitol Chatter reported that Dayton will soon receive a further boost from the party, with Vice President Joe Biden likely to visit Minnesota to campaign for Dayton. A visit from Biden will help Dayton on two fronts. President Obama’s approval rating in the state is higher than the national average, so a visit from the second in command should pull a large crowd and help rally the party base. Biden should also be able to bolster Dayton’s fundraising abilities, as Dayton won his primary campaign mostly through utilizing his own wealth rather than funds from supporters.

While “DFL candidate supported by unions and other Democrats” is not the most shocking news story, it is notable how quickly the DFL organization has rallied to Dayton after Kelliher narrowly lost the nomination. With the full support of the party infrastructure and outside groups, Dayton should be able to fully capitalize on his strength at the polls as the general election campaign begins. The race has gained national importance after the controversy surrounding Target’s contribution to a pro-Tom Emmer group, so Dayton will likely see more support from non-Minnesotan politicians and groups when the campaign gets closer to the fall election.

Patrick Caldwell is the American Independent’s Minnesota correspondent.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

ST. PAUL: Visiting VIP untouched by Axis bombers. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood got a tour of Union Depot’s long-closed concourse, where skylights are still blacked out to fool WWII-era enemies. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

SIXTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Republican’s muscle-flex enters second day. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann raised nearly as much money in the last 48 hours as DFL rival Maureen Reed raised last quarter. [Smart Politics]

ST. CLOUD: A DFL Who’s-Who RSVPs for Wellstone Dinner. The annual chow-down this weekend proves to be a don’t-miss for the party’s gubernatorial field — even those who skipped this week’s candidate forum on hunger.  [St. Cloud Times]

STATE CAPITOL: Panel hears local-government aid is at low ebb. So the LGA Study Group is doing what they’re supposed to: study it.  [Sebeka-Menahga Review Messenger; @donreeder]

ST. PAUL: Jobless-rate drop puzzling. State officials are reassuringly concerned about what is actually going on, as the state also lost nearly 8,000 jobs in September. [Minnesota Public Radio]

BLOOMINGTON: In 1969, Minnesota’s “Balloon Boy” actually went up. A Minnesota Vikings halftime stunt turned into the real deal for Rick Snyder, then 11, who recalls crashing his runaway balloon into the Minnesota River before it went aloft again, leading rescuers astray. [KSTP-TV]

Elsewhere in Minnesota headlines this morning …

ST. PAUL: Bachmann hard on ACORN, easy on birthers. She asks Gov. Pawlenty to investigate the community-organizing group but won’t diss people who doubt President Obama’s American birth. [Associated Press; CNN]

SAUK RAPIDS: Did he need a photo ID to file? Then how do we know it’s the real Republican state Rep. Dan Severson who is eyeing DFLer Mark Ritchie’s secretary of state post? [St. Cloud Times]

ST. PAUL: Mayoral rivals debate. Republican Eva Ng attacked Mayor Chris Coleman on taxes and fees, which she’d freeze “right now.” [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

MINNEAPOLIS: “Nothing like a pissed-off woman.” That’s how city council candidate Lennie Chism explains away an assault charge as a setup. [Star Tribune]

ST. PAUL: One in five, baby. A state report agrees with Jim Morrison of the Doors: That’s the proportion of Minnesota banks and credit unions on a watch list for failure. [Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal]

MINNEAPOLIS: “It’s like the Metrodome is an obsessed girlfriend, refusing to let the Twins leave.” Sports-romance analogies: You can’t live with ‘em, you can’t live without ‘em. [WCCO-TV; @DeRushaJ]

Elsewhere in Minnesota headlines this morning …

ST. PAUL: Nukes now! Three GOP operatives are bankrolling a new nonprofit called Sensible Energy Solutions for Minnesota, promising “an aggressive grassroots campaign” to repeal the state’s ban on building nuclear power plants. [Pioneer Press; ECM Publishers]

MINNEAPOLIS: Al Garcia faces sex charge. An attorney who once ruled the roost at City Hall is laid low by sex-crime allegations. [Star Tribune]

VIRGINIA: Blight fight needs more teeth, officials say. Foreclosures have left the city — population 9,157 — with nearly 30 blighted properties, and current city rules are “too loosey-goosey.” [Mesabi Daily News]

PRINCETON: City annexed manufactured-home park, but who’ll pay for sewer hook-up? Million-dollar pricetag on state-mandated sewage improvements could destroy the 96-unit village in order to save it. [Princeton Union-Eagle]

MINNEAPOLIS: Gophers game-day parking: $1,000. Passes to park next to the new University of Minnesota stadium have already sold out at $2,500 each; what’s left nearby costs $1,000, leaving most prospective student tailgaters aced out. [Minnesota Daily]

WINONA: Just another discussion about “The Wall.” A Saint Mary’s University philosophy professor who as a kid hated Kenny Rogers and Juice Newton leads a public discussion of the 1979 Pink Floyd album. [Winona Daily News]

Photo: The UpTake

The Obama Administration held up St. Cloud as a measure of the federal stimulus’ promise when Vice President Biden held a town hall meeting at a bus factory there in March. Two investigative journalism enterprises, The Takeaway and ProPublica, check on how St. Cloud is faring and find that the stimulus hasn’t meant any new jobs at New Flyer of America yet.

In a story cross-published at MinnPost, ProPublica points out that New Flyer is doing well regardless of whether the stimulus sends transportation or energy-related funds its way.

The Takeaway’s audio report plays a clip from Biden’s presentation in March, saying, “We want to invest not just in getting people jobs right now; what we want to do is lay a foundation for the 21st century … to lead the world.” St. Cloud residents interviewed for the report aren’t seeing it “right now” … yet.

ProPublica says the delay even with “shovel-ready” transportation-related projects is partly due to the hurdle of ensuring union labor is used.

Franken at far right. Photo: SNL Archive

In a story on the Senate Judiciary Committee taking up Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court next week, the New York Times makes mention of something noted here last week: committee member Al Franken’s 1991 TV portrayal of a U.S. senator on the same committee, questioning a Supreme Court nominee.

Franken has said he’ll ask Sotomayor about campaign finance reform, but on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” he was only looking for a date.

It was the opening bit on the SNL show on Oct. 12, 1991, satirizing Senate hearings about the nomination of Clarence Thomas.

UPDATE: NBC has now released the video clip of the sketch. Watch it here. 

Franken played the late Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois in trademark bow-tie. Among the other actors were the late Phil Hartman as Sen. Edward Kennedy, the late Chris Farley as Sen. Howard Heflin, and Chris Rock as Long Dong Silver. Kevin Nealon opened the skit in the role of Sen. Joe Biden (now vice president, then committee chairman).

Here’s the transcript of the sketch. Franken’s lines are near the end.

BIDEN: [ banging gavel ] Gentlemen! Gentlemen, please! Please! Professor Hill, I want to thank you for your … patience here today. You’ve shown remarkable courage throughout your testimony. It couldn’t have been easy for you — or any of us — to sit here for the last seven hours and talk about penis size, or large-breasted women having sex with animals, or pubic hairs on soft drink cans, or oral sex, or the black man’s sexual prowess, or large-breasted women having sex with animals. But we appreciate your candor. [ rest of committee shake their heads and smile ] And we, uh … hope we can reschedule you for another session tomorrow.

ANITA HILL: Thank you, Senator. [ stands up to leave, bumps into next witness, Judge Clarence Thomas, and quickly walks away from him ]

BIDEN: The committee, at this time, would like to call Judge Clarence Thomas. Judge Thomas? [ Judge Clarence Thomas sits ] Judge Thomas, we’re sorry to have to bring you back, but, as you know, some pretty serious allegations have been made by our previous witness.

THOMAS: First of all, I want to say that these proceedings are a travesty!

BIDEN: Mmm-hmm. Well, I understand that. But you did ask Ms. Hill out on a date?

THOMAS: Uh … yes, I did.

[ the committee whisper amongst themselves at the revealing testimony ]

BIDEN: And she refused?

THOMAS: That’s correct.

BIDEN: How did you go about asking her out for this date?

THOMAS: I’m not sure what you mean, Senator.

BIDEN: Well.. did you just go right up and ask her? Or did you have one of her friends tell her that you thought she was cute?

THOMAS: I just walked right up and asked her.

[ the committee whisper amongst themselves ]

KENNEDY: Were you, uh.. were you drunk at the time?

THOMAS: No, I was not.

BIDEN: But she wouldn’t go out with you?

THOMAS: No.

BIDEN: Was she aware that, as her boss, you could have her fired?

THOMAS: She must have been.

[ the committee members gasp at the shocking statement ]

BIDEN: And she still didn’t go out with you? [ Thomas nods no ] Now, Judge Thomas, there have been charges by Professor Hill that you talked casually with her about graphic scenes in porno movies. Is that true?

THOMAS: Yes, it is.

BIDEN: And.. did that work? Did it break the ice?

THOMAS: No, Senator, it actually offended her.

[ the committee is surprised the tactic didn't work ]

HEFLIN: Uh.. what porno movie did you talk about?

THOMAS: Well.. I mainly spoke about a favorite of mine, called “The Hind-Lick Manuever”.

HEFLIN: That’s a good movie, Judge! But do you think hard-core porno is the way to go? Because I feel women prefer softer porn.

BIDEN: Senator Thurmond?

SEN. STROM THURMOND: I agree with Senator Heflin. Yeah, that’s right! The women like something with more stories and costumes, that’ll transport ‘em to another place and time. That’s right! Women don’t like close-ups of oversized genitalia! That’s just never gonna turn ‘em on!

[ committee agrees ]

KENNEDY: A, uh … another good thing is to get them out on your boat for some reason, because, uh … because then it’s really hard for them to get away.

BIDEN: Do you have a question, Senator Kennedy?

KENNEDY: Uh, yes, I do. Have you ever tried coming out of the bathroom nude, and acting like you didn’t know someone was there?

THOMAS: Uh.. no.

KENNEDY: Well, that’s too bad. Because that works, too.

SIMON: Um … Judge? Judge Thomas? Judge Thomas, are you aware of that, uh.. division of our.. government.. known as the, uh … Criminal Justice, uh … Department?

THOMAS: Of course I am, Senator!

SIMON: Well, you know when you walk in the main entrance of the Criminal Justice Building.. there’s this receptionist with short brown hair?

THOMAS: The, uh … one at the third desk on the left?

SIMON: No, no. The one at the big, circular desk, uh … right there in the center there.

THOMAS: Oh, yes — Sandy.

SIMON: Yes. Sandy. Um … do you think that she’d go out with me?

THOMAS: Well, Senator Simon, not knowing your technique, I feel that it would be unfair for me to prejudge your chances with her.

SIMON: Uh-huh. Uh … you think it’s the bow tie, then?

BIDEN: Senator Simon. Please.

SIMON: Women just don’t seem to like the bow tie, do they?

BIDEN: Senator Simon. Please!

SIMON: Uh, sorry. Sorry.

BIDEN: Judge Thomas, I’d like to thank you for your testimony. You’ve been very forthcoming, and, may I say, it’s been an education.

THOMAS: Thank you, Senator. [ stands up and exits ]

BIDEN: The committee calls its next witness. [ black man walks up ] Sir, would you please state your name?

SILVER: Long Dong Silver.

[ committee members smile and shake their heads ]

BIDEN: Mr. Silver, we apologize for calling you back one more time.. but many of us on the committee are admirers of your work, and.. well, frankly, we could just listen to you all day. Now, we understand you have a statement?

SILVER: Uh, yes. I do. “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

Photo: whitehouse.gov

Vice President Joe Biden has been booked for Al Franken’s swearing-in as a U.S. Senator, and Franken says he will be accompanied at the ceremony by former Vice President Walter Mondale and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. It “looks like” it will happen next Tuesday, he said — a date that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office told the Minnesota Independent is “likely.”

Franken was asked in a Thursday afternoon interview on The UpTake whether he was pinching himself.

“I am. There’s something surreal about all this. I don’t think it would been quite as surreal if I’d just won on election night,” Minnesota’s senator-elect said. “Finally, so suddenly, just boom! It happens.”

The six-month delay in getting seated rankles Franken. He called his absence — while a committee he’s assigned to (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) tackles health care — “one of the things I’m most upset about not being seated right away. … I’m going to sit in on the [health care bill's] markup but I’m not actually a member of the committee until [after] they get this finished.

“I am very predisposed to a public option [for health care reform],” Franken said. “But the devil’s always in the details.”

Franken was interviewed by phone on the citizen-journalism website that streamed live video of most of the recount and election-contest trial. ”I want to thank you and The UpTake,” Franken said, “for showing the process for what it is.”

Did he watch the post-election proceedings on The UpTake? “I did watch. In fact, you ruined my vacation,” Franken deadpanned. “My campaign manager made us take a vacation the first week of the trial. We just couldn’t enjoy ourselves at all.” Apparently he still has a tanline from his laptop.

If Norm Coleman runs for governor, what advice would Franken have for a DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) candidate running against him?

“To call me,” Franken quipped.

What does he think of Rush Limbaugh comparing Minnesota’s U.S. Senate election to Iran’s recent presidential election?

“That’s one of the great things about running for public office,” Franken said. “You don’t have to listen to Rush Limbaugh. That’s one of the great pleasures of not being on the radio, where it was kind of the easy thing to do, listen to it and react to him.”

Franken offered no defense of the controversial Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). “I’m pro-same-sex marriage,” he said. “I think DOMA will be history soon.” He cited commentator George F. Will’s observation that to his daughter’s generation, being gay is about as interesting as being left-handed. “I actually think it’s more interesting,” Franken said, adding that despite predictions that his out-front support for same-sex marriage would sideline his Senate campaign, “it just never became an issue.”

UPDATE: Here’s a video of TheUptake’s online/radio interview with Al Franken on July 2:

Not as catchy as Orwell's "Ignorance Is Strength"

Vice President Joe Biden held a town-hall meeting on beefing up the middle class in St. Cloud today. Watch live streaming video via the UpTake after the jump.

The setting for Biden’s appearance — a New Flyer of America Bus Co. plant that last year hired 90 people to build low-emission, alternative-fuel vehicles — has something in common with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak’s choice of locale for his State of the City address next week: the new Coloplast corporate campus on West River Parkway, a company that brought 200 jobs to Minneapolis when the company relocated from Georgia.

Another thing the venues have in common: Both companies are owned by foreign firms.

Here’s video of Biden’s St. Cloud event, courtesy of the UpTake:

“Politics is not an exact science,” said the German and Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck on more than one occasion (sometimes adding, “It is the art of the possible”). But another masterful politician whose name ends with the letter K might beg to differ — with the “not exact” part, anyway.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who announced his candidacy for re-election yesterday, told me this about his relationship with the Obama administration last week (and these were his exact words): “This is working out exactly as I would want it.” Something similar he said yesterday about his job satisfaction ended up in a Southwest Journal headline: “I live exactly where I want to be, and I don’t want to go anywhere. … I am exactly where I need to be right now.”

A Lexis search reveals that, more than Mr. Minneapolis or Mr. Mayor, Rybak is actually Mr. Exact. See Rybak’s litany of exactitude after the jump.

“From what I’ve seen from [Los Angeles] Mayor [Antonio] Villaraigosa, he’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing.” (Nov. 18, 2008)

“During this time of economic uncertainty, Crown Center [in Northeast Minneapolis] is exactly the kind of revitalization we need.” (Oct. 22, 2008)

“In the coming days, we will learn more about exactly what happened yesterday” about protests and policing during the first day of the Republican National Convention. (Sept. 2, 2008)

“When the bridge fell, I was shocked, but I knew exactly what to do, because we’d done all that planning.” (Sept. 1, 2008)

Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden is “exactly what we needed at exactly the right time.” (Aug. 23, 2008)

New Minneapolis fire chief Alex Jackson is “exactly the kind of leader we need to keep our strong fire department moving forward in the right direction.” (June 9, 2008)

“His energy and passion for this issue are exactly what we need to keep this extremely important initiative moving forward.” (About Bass Zanjani, who Rybak appointed as Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator, April 14, 2008)

“I’m extremely sorry to see Johan [Santana] go. But I believe this is exactly what this incredible franchise needs to do to sign the players who are key to our future, like [Joe] Mauer and [Justin] Morneau and [Michael] Cuddyer, and build the pitching staff that has tremendous promise.” (Jan. 30, 2008)

“Having this [Juvenile Supervision] Center will help us better connect with young people heading in the wrong direction to get them back on track with exactly the right kind of support and opportunities they need to succeed.” (Jan. 18, 2008)

“We are sending that exact message today by removing Bonnie Bleskachek as Fire Chief.” (Dec. 22, 2006)

“Tim Dolan knows this community, he has the confidence of our police and he is an innovative leader who knows exactly what we need right now to make our city safe.” (Sept. 11, 2006)

“We are putting significantly more money into public safety and that is exactly what we need to do right now.” (Aug. 15, 2006)

“The new Juvenile [Crime] Unit is doing exactly what it was created to do: focus on troubled youth.” (July 20, 2006)

“Let’s be clear: our chance of success here is lower, but that’s exactly why we need to be here [in north Minneapolis].” (April 18, 2006)

“Making this happen takes work, which is exactly why we added three new city planners to engage citizens in areas like Downtown and Uptown.” (Feb. 28, 2006)

“STEP UP is doing exactly what I had hoped when I launched it in 2004 and I am very thankful for the business leaders who have helped provide jobs for our kids.” (June 24, 2005)

“Let me stop you before you finish, because I had the exact same idea.” (Said in agreement with former Police Chief Bill McManus as he explained that he was going to give Rybak a ticket for leaving his Prius running unattended, Feb. 24, 2004)