Minnesota
Written by Sam on September 15th, 2007I just spent a rather chilly week in the Twin Cities. As I was grabbing breakfast yesterday morning (I passed on the lutefisk) at my hotel there was a rather obese man sitting not too far from me who looked very much like Michael Moore wearing an Al Franken 2008 t-shirt. This was the only Franken campaign material I saw all week in St Paul, mind you. It took me a few minutes to catch my breath after laughing so hard and picking myself up off of the floor.
The lunatics at Kos, as well as other American hating groups, like to tout how much money Franken has raised as some kind of proof that he will wipe the sidewalk with Norm Coleman next year. What they don’t tell you is that a vast amount of money has come from outside of Minnesota, mainly Hollywood, and that does not translate into local support. I am not saying Franken can’t win. Minnesota has voted Democrat in the last seven Presidential elections and the only state to vote against Reagan in 1984, so anything is possible. I just find a Franken victory improbable. Minnesotans by and large are fairly well mannered people and it won’t take too many television and radio ads of Franken spewing his anti-American venom on “Air America” to turn a great deal of them off. Furthermore, Coleman is more of a moderate Republican and thus he is very representative of the state as a whole.
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We underestimate Franken at our peril. I definitely agree that Coleman can win, but Franken has already closed the gap significantly. At first I laughed at his candidacy harder than I laughed at his comedy. Now, though, I think he’s a force. Remember, this is the state that elected Jesse Ventura, and nobody saw that coming.
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Hey, at least Al Franken is finally doing SOMETHING worth laughing over!
Dick Morris seems to take it for granted that Ciresi will beat Franken in the Dem primary, but I’m with Sean. Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not the 2008 Convention in the Twin Cities will affect this race?
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Coleman is in trouble here in Minnesota, but he is the type of Republican that the party needs to be saved from. He won on a total fluke anyway, thanks to the sad and untimely death of Paul Wellstone. The reason so many people call themselves former-Republicans here and why the GOP has been smoked in the last couple elections is that the party has lost its soul, especially on libertarian issues like keeping the government out of our pocketbooks and off of our phone lines. Stop worrying about those you think “Anti-American,” and look in the mirror. The Republican party is much closer to Russian Communism than you’ll ever admit. It is really about being an ideologue rather than believing in America and freedom. Poor Barry Goldwater is rolling over in his grave.
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Minnesota has continually elected flukes….namely Jesse Ventura. What makes you think they won’t elect a comedian just because he’s the outsider. I agree with paul above…Coleman is only there because Wellstone and his family died in a place crash and Walter Mondale was not a feasible replacement.