Al Franken, former “Saturday Night Live” creator and writer, announced on Jan. 31, that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Minnesota.
Norm Coleman, a senator who Democrats think is one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the country, currently occupies the seat.
Franken is absolutely no stranger to the political scene. His books have topped The New York Times Best-Seller List five times. He is also known for hosting his syndicated liberal talk show. Franken has been a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, an elite institution that has produced scores of political leaders.
“He is a celebrity from a field of talking heads,” said Fairfield politics professor John Orman, the author of the book “Celebrity Politics,” and teaches a course on politics and pop culture. “We currently have a disproportionate amount of coverage about celebrities in politics and the media plays way too much attention to them,”
Franken has been one of the many the political pundits willing to throw themselves out there and make themselves susceptible to criticism from their opposition. This list includes conservative talk show titan Rush Limbaugh, who was the subject of one of Franken’s best-sellers, “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot,” and Bill O’Reilly, who visited Fairfield last fall.
When asked by a Fairfield student in October whether he would consider running for public office, O’Reilly said, “I feel that I am more powerful now then if I was in the Senate.”
These men might be the most politically knowledgeable, but hours of footage would hinder them in their run for office.
Though Franken’s bid may at first seem far-fetched, his candidacy could prove to be anything but a joke.
In the past, Franken has been a powerful fundraiser to the point that others would sit back in astonishment. He was one of the primary benefactors on both of Bill Clinton’s campaigns, a fact that will come into play if Hillary Clinton or Al Gore is chosen as the Democratic nominee for president in 2008.
Franken has the name recognition to take on just about anyone, and former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura’s proved in 1998 that it is possible to be elected to a state-wide office in Minnesota without having any political experience when he ran for governor and won.
Outside factors might come into play as well. The Republicans are not the favorites across the country because of President Bush’s low approval ratings, and Coleman shares similarly low ratings.
In November of last year, at the height of the midterm election buzz, his approval rating in a Survey USA poll was a mere 48 percent, which ranked 83rd out of 100 Senators.
Of the 16 Senators that had lower approval ratings, six were up for re-election last fall and only two – Robert Menedez (D-NJ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) – were re-elected.
Plus, Franken has the advantage of being a Democrat running in one of the country’s bluest states – a state in which 39 percent of voters are registered Democrats and only 29 are registered Republicans.
Yet a more important question must be asked, and should be asked whenever someone is running for any office: what kind of senator would Al Franken be?
“Franken is smart and thoughtful guy who should be a good Democratic senator from the Midwest if he wins,” Orman said. “Some celebrities do fine and others are in over their heads.”
Whether or not Franken is over his head is not a question for us to answer, but for the voters of Minnesota; the same voters that vaulted Ventura from the wrestling ring to the Governor’s Mansion eight years ago.
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