Liberal Talk Radio

More from the wacky world of Minnesota politics. 

Last week, I told you about “Team Minnesota,” a group of career civil servants running as a sort of “bloc populaire” in Minnesota’s state wide elections. 

Now comes news that Al Franken is cranking it up for a potential ’08 Senate run against Norm “I’m not a carpetbagger, really, I’m not” Coleman.

From the Strib:

Franken is bringing a new perspective to politics: [an observer noted] “This is Minnesota. We elected Jesse Ventura. We elected Rod Grams, the TV anchorman … We’ve elected different people.”

Franken has been doing a lot of politicking around Minnesota since January, when he moved his show on the Air America radio network from Manhattan to Minneapolis …

As he travels throughout Minnesota, Franken is staying true to his trade, often relying on humor at political events. He calls the No Child Left Behind law for schools “the most ironically named piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act.” He says Republicans are “stealing God,” adding that the Bible is filled with references to helping the poor. If you cut all those references out, he says, “you’d have the perfect box to smuggle Rush Limbaugh’s drugs in.”

… Franken got a big laugh when he read from the GOP’s Contract With America in 1994, recalling how Republicans promised to end a cycle of political scandal.

“On September 27th, 1994, on the steps the Capitol, they said this: ‘If we break the contract, throw us out,’ ” he said.

After the crowd’s hooting ended, Franken yelled: “Sounds like a plan to me!”

It’d be tough for Franken to swing a newly conservative Minnesota [too many old people?], but — damn — it’d be fun to watch him try.  In any case, he’d be one hell of a diversionary attack for the Dems.  Check out Al Franken’s PAC — Midwestern Values.