Mark Begich

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 [...]

Al Franken’s first bill in the U.S. Senate passed unanimously — kinda. His plan for a pilot project to provide service dogs to disabled veterans got tacked onto by unanimous consent to the Defense Authorization, which passed the Senate by a 87-7 vote last night. All with no apparent fanfare from the former showman. 

We’re supposed to learn Tuesday whether a final batch of 24,000 absentee and contested ballots will bring U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, back from a 1,000-vote deficit to win re-election, despite his recent felony conviction. Should Stevens win election but then get booted from the Senate, Gov. Sarah Palin will be in a situation very roughly akin to Minnesota Gov. Wendell Anderson’s in 1976 after former U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale was elected vice president. Anderson quit as governor, having arranged for his replacement, Rudy Perpich, to appoint him in Mondale’s place. Voters punished both Anderson and Perpich two years later, denying them re-election. If Stevens is the winner after the last Alaska vote is counted tomorrow, what advice would Anderson have for Palin?

With Democrats now controlling 57 Senate seats — just shy of the veto-proof majority they’d gain with 60 — all eyes are on Minnesota’s race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken… as Huffington Post’s All-Al-All-the-Time dedicated page (see logo above) suggests. The margin has narrowed considerably between the two, but has held firm most of [...]