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Al Franken Makes Minnesota Ballot

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The Associated Press

Published: June 8, 2008

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken saved his best material for Saturday afternoon at the state Democratic convention, where he beat back worries from some party leaders about his U.S. Senate candidacy and earned a resounding endorsement from party activists.

Franken won on the first ballot by promising a tough challenge to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and directly addressing concerns from some fellow Democrats about some of his old jokes.

"To the people of Minnesota, let me say this: I'm not a perfect person," Franken said. "I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers. But I'll tell the truth, I will keep my spine, and I will work for you."

Franken's only competitor, college professor and peace activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, withdrew after Franken passed the necessary 60 percent threshold on the first ballot. Nelson-Pallmeyer made a motion that delegates unanimously back Franken, putting him over the top.

Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan attacked Franken as "unqualified, unfit and unprepared to be a United States senator." He said the campaign will employ old Franken material.

"Al Franken wants to wants to talk about Norm Coleman's record. We're not going to be shy about talking about Al Franken's record," he said.

Franken's show of strength came as a surprise after some Democrats, led by U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, criticized a racy column he wrote for Playboy magazine in 2000 and joking comments he made about rape in a 1995 New York magazine article about "Saturday Night Live."

Franken finally tackled the controversy head-on in his nomination speech to delegates, where he said some of the things he said and wrote over 35 years as a writer were "downright offensive."

"I understand that. And I understand that the people of Minnesota deserve a senator who won't say things that make them feel uncomfortable," Franken said.

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