Breakfast With Al Franken

MOMocrat Glennia's husband, frequent commenter Frank S., recently had the chance to have breakfast with Senate hopeful, Al Franken.  Franken was on a fundraising tour of California with Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.  This is his account.

Earlier this month, I got the chance to have a fundraising breakfast with Al Franken. It was one of Mark Gorenberg’s now famous Silicon Valley events. I’ve been on the e-mail list for these for some time, but seem to have the bad luck to be on travel or otherwise committed everytime he has had Senate or House candidates come through town.  This time, however, I was in town, had no morning meetings, and a breakfast at Il Fornaio in Palo Alto was not far from my route to the freeway – an ideal time and place.

And, it was Al Franken, well known SNL comedian turned Senate candidate. At least it would not be a dull morning, for sure. Al is running to represent his native Minnesota, where he hopes to rout Repub Norm Coleman. Al says that earlier in Norm’s term, he’s on tape boasting of voting with Bush nearly 100% of the time. Al plans to remind voters of that fact. A lot.

Breakfast was a delicious buffet of pastries and fruit, and as I was loading a cinnamon twist on my plate, the man at my elbow said “Sure looks good."

As I agreed, he said “Hi, I’m Sheldon Whitehouse, from Rhode Island”.

Al had brought two senators along with him on this road trip, Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and there they were, also loading up on fruit, pastries and coffee. What do you say to a Senator at the pastry line? Blast them on the status of the FISA situation? Pull the text of some legislation out of your pocket that you just happened to have in mind?

Not knowing what to say, I asked about his trip with Franken.  He said that their next stop was the airport, because they were going to Hollywood for another fundraiser.  I thought a moment and then asked “Is a guy like Al really going to fit in a place with such decorum as the Senate?”  with (I hope) just enough tongue in cheek to show I knew it really wasn’t so formal, but still, could a comedian could really get anything done?

Whitehouse smiled and said “He'll fit right in.”

Then, I handed him my wife's MOMocrats card and said he should check it out.  He put it in his pocket, and grabbed a muffin.

Al himself came by a moment later, and I got to interrupt and have him sign a couple books that I had on the shelf at home. (“Help!” he wrote in one, “Thanks!” in the other.) He asked what I did, and I made the mistake of trying to answer by telling him about integrated circuits, but then I lost him on the third tech acronym I used without thinking. I apologized, but he said “That’s OK, you should see how many acronyms they use on a USO tour!”

We took our chairs, and after some pastry munching and coffee sipping, the Senators and honored guest addressed the group. Whitehouse is still in his first term, and was helped in his run by the Gorenberg network. Since his name was the last in the alphabet of the new members sworn in, he described the experience of becoming the 51st Democrat and thus confirming the democratic majority in the Senate. He did this looking President of the Senate, Dick Cheney, straight in the eye, and swearing to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign AND (emphasis his) domestic.  He emphasized the need to get a 60-seat Democratic majority in the Senate, one of the key reasons he was traveling with Al Franken.

Sen. Stabenow also spoke briefly, again about the need to get a 60 seat majority, to overcome Republican filibusters. She thought we should “act like the smart people we are”, educating our children, building green technology, and being second to none.

Now it was Al’s turn, and he spoke well. He said some funny things, with impeccable delivery (which you’d expect). But, he’s serious too, and really feels a need serve his state. He talked about visiting with the miners in the Iron Range of northern Minnesota, whose pensions are in default.  They had to settle for retirement income of $900/month, with bodies broken from 30 years in the mines and no other work they can do.

“What does Norm Coleman say when he talks to you?” Al asked them.

“Norm Coleman doesn’t talk to us, he talks to the bosses – the ones who defaulted on our pensions!” they replied. It’s for folks like those miners, says Al, that he’s running for Senate.

He talked about growing up through the Sputnik challenge, and how the technologies developed for Apollo (computers, communications, new materials) became the engine of our prosperity for decades.  Now, global warming is our Sputnik moment, and we need a Green Apollo program to address it, and that that President Obama will get his full support for that.  As he says these things, you can tell, although the delivery has a well timed joke or two, that deep in his heart, he means it. He believes these things are important and wants to make a difference.

Franken says, he’s a unique candidate to do that. With a twinkle in his eye, he says his opponent is beholden to Big Oil, Big Gas, Big Defense, Big Pharma, and Big Insurance. Al Franken is only beholden to Big Comedy, and guess what? “They don’t want anything! Well, maybe better Intellectual Property rights, but other than that…” (ha ha ha – I guess you had to be there.)

Then, Al took a break and started drawing on the flip chart they had set up in the room. “I have a unique ability, learned at an early age, to draw the 48 states freehand.”

He then proceeded to draw while the other two senators took questions. The final chart was actually pretty good, and after coloring Minnesota, Michigan and Rhode Island blue, they auctioned the map off to the highest bidder (not me!).

I left feeling that Franken is indeed going to be the next Senator from Minnesota. He has enough of a feeling for people (if you didn’t, you can’t do comedy) and for his state that I think he can pull it off.  As for the 60-seat Senate, that seems like a tougher goal. But, there are more events to come, and a lot can happen between July and November.

Frank S. is a scientist in Silicon Valley, California and an Independent voter who leans Democratic.

   

Comments

[Julie Pippert]

Great recap of the event! It sounds like a good time. Also, I had no idea he could draw the continental US freehand.

Clearly you are classier than me because I would have told the Senator the number of Weight Watchers points in the muffin. When nervous I start spouting facts and figures like a PTSD Jeopardy! contestant. ;)

WTG handing off the card.

In the end, sounds like he was not dull but wasn't flippant, either. Great! GL to Franken!

[Daisy]

Comedians are often very intelligent people. I'm glad to hear he balanced his humor appropriately with real issues and serious concerns. I'll be happy to see him represent my neighbor state, even if he is a Viking fan (smile).

-from the good progressive state of Wisconsin

[PunditMom]

I hope he comes by! And I'm especially happy since Jesse Ventura announced yesterday that he is NOT going to run against Franken as an independent!

[cynematic]

Frank S., nice report! The words "Senator Al Franken" sound great. I'd like to see one less Lying Liar in Congress and one more Democrat who'll actually look out for his constituents.

[Glennia]

Way to promote the MOMocrats! You are my hero, Frank S.

Oh, and Al Franken is not too shabby either.

[Amy@UWM]

I love Al Franken. He's hilarious. Smart too. Thanks so much for the recap.

[Stefania]

Frank S., you are one of my favorite DADo...um...pendents. Thanks for filing this report from our Silicon Valley bureau. ;-)

[Amelia Sprout]

Unfortunately Al isn't do so great here. Due to a satire piece in Playboy, the women of the party are up in arms, and some are actively campaigning against him. He is about to have a challenger for the Democratic ticket, which just plain sucks. He is a great cantidate, but we have some high horse issues here in Minnesota. We just can't get off of them. Which is really too bad because Norm is creepy.