Friday, May 02, 2008

Editorial

The Mesabi Daily News

Al Franken is an engaging and personable in person. The former “Saturday Night Live” performer and writer has a gift of quick wit and funny-man charm.

But as a U.S. Senate candidate he is quickly becoming a bust for the Minnesota DFL Party, even though he has piled up voluminous endorsements.

Franken’s sharp, often crass even vulgar tongue while delivering his strident comic barbs at the opposition party and some of its leaders, including Minnesota Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, strikes just the right tone that many DFL Party activists love. Thus the rock star-like adoration that Franken has generated in those circles. But even though Minnesota is a state that leans more Democratic, it is also a state with a proud sense of fairness and one that does not often relish such personal harshness toward opposing candidates.

All those Franken video clips from “Saturday Night Live” and sound bites from his “Air America” stint on that radio station with a liberal political commentary bent will be easy Coleman ad material. They show him more of a clown than a serious U.S. Senate candidate.

And now the senator’s ad man has fresh new material — Franken’s failure to pay about $70,000 in back taxes since 2003 in 17 states.

Democratic activists, unions and state lawmakers would be wise to give Nelson-Pallmeyer much more healthy consideration before they fully commit the nomination to Franken.