Apr.15

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Democratic Presidential Candidate of the Week, #38: Al Franken

We didn't have a chance to do a profile last week, but we're back on track now.

• Full Name: Alan Stuart Franken
  
  
• Age on January 20, 2029: 77
  
  
• Background: Franken was born to a Jewish, working-class family in New York City, though his parents relocated to Minnesota when he was still a toddler. While in elementary school, he met and befriended Tom Davis, who would be his long-time comedy partner. Whip-smart (think: the anti-Tuberville) and a talented wrestler, Franken earned admission to Harvard, which is obviously all over today's posting.
  
  After graduation from that institution, Franken paired with Davis (who attended the University of the Pacific, but dropped out) to try to launch a career in comedy. Things went well in Minnesota, but not so well in Los Angeles. On the verge of giving up, the duo accepted a single writer's slot on the new show Saturday Night in 1975 (it didn't become Saturday Night Live until 1977). That meant that Franken and Davis got to share an office, and a salary of $350/week during the weeks an episode aired. Accounting for the number of episodes in a season, as well as inflation, Franken and Davis were each earning the present-day equivalent of about $23,000 a year.
  
  Fortunately for them, they became key members of the early writing staff, and helped create a lot of the political content, along with recurring bits like "The Nerds" and "The Franken and Davis Show." After 5 years, they left, along with virtually the entire cast and staff. When Lorne Michaels returned, Franken (but not Davis) returned with him, spending another 10 years on the show, during which he created "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley," "Colon Blow," and "Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer," along with a bunch more political satire. In total, Franken was part of the writing staff (and featured cast) for 15 years, and won five Emmys.
  
  In addition to his TV and film work, Franken also taught at the Harvard School of Government, hosted a show on the lefty Air America radio network, wrote four bestsellers, and has done numerous comedy tours, including several for the USO.
  
  
• Political Experience: Franken was close friends with Sen. Paul Wellstone (DFL-MN). After Wellstone died in a plane crash, Franken took exception to some of the things that his replacement, Republican Norm Coleman, said about the deceased (and very liberal) senator. So, Franken decided to challenge Coleman. The result in the general election is the one that hopeful losers, all across the nation, look to when the final tally is close. On election night 2008, Coleman was ahead by 215 votes. After a state-law-mandated recount, Franken pulled ahead by 225 votes. Then, after a lawsuit filed by Coleman, Franken's lead grew to 312 votes. That's not how that is supposed to work. Because of all this wrangling, Franken was not formally certified until June 30, 2009. When he arrived to finally take his seat in the Senate, he learned his new colleagues had saved Wellstone's former desk for his use.
  
  Franken earned a reputation as a "work horse" focused on legislating and on constituent services. He rarely did television hits, and did not endeavor to leverage his show business connects. The people of Minnesota liked what they saw, because he won reelection by a comfortable margin in 2014, 53% to 42% over Republican Mike McFadden. In 2018, Franken was accused of posing for some semi-vulgar photos by (and with) LeeAnn Tweeden, who accompanied him on one of his USO tours. His misdeeds were unserious enough that if this had happened in the year 2025, he probably would have weathered the storm. But 2018 was the very height of #MeToo, and the Democrats were trying to win a special election in Alabama based on a #MeToo-type argument. So, Franken was run out of town on a rail, without benefit of a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Later, several colleagues who helped push him out said they regretted their actions.
  
  
• Signature Issue(s): Healthcare. Franken wrote sizable portions of the Affordable Care Act, and served throughout his time in the Senate on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  
  
• What Would His Pitch Be?: "I can connect with people on the other side of the aisle."
  
  
• Instructive Quote: "When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both."
  
  
• Completely Trivial Fact: The EGOT, made famous by Tracy Jordan on the show 30 Rock, is the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar and the Tony. There are 21 people who have won all four parts of the EGOT in competitive categories, and another 6 who join the list if you count honorary and/or lifetime (i.e., non-competitive) awards.
  
  Franken is not an EGOT winner. But, by virtue of having five Emmys and two Grammys, he's halfway there. The only other current or former U.S. Senator to have reached the halfway mark is... Barack Obama (two Emmys, three Grammys).
  
  
• Recent News: Franken is on tour right now, but he still keeps his hand in the game, at least a little bit. He just gave his endorsement to Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (DFL-MN) in next year's senatorial race.
  
  
• Strengths for the Democratic Primaries: (1) Naturally, Franken is great on TV; (2) Franken, as we note above, is one of a very few Democrats (Pete Buttigieg is another) who can engage with voters across the spectrum without alienating them; (3) Franken is popular in the Midwest, and the Midwest plays an outsized role in the primary process.
  
  
• Weaknesses for the Democratic Primaries: (1) Franken is far removed from someone like Harvey Weinstein, but he was still brought down by a #MeToo scandal, and there may be some Democrats who cannot forgive or forget that; (2) If the goal is to win back blue-collar white workers, then a highly educated very liberal urban Jew with Hollywood ties is probably not going to do that; (3) Many Democratic voters clearly want a changing of the guard, and are not going to be buying what a Baby Boomer (any Baby Boomer) is selling.
  
  
• Polls: Nobody is asking 2028 primary voters about Al Franken, of course, but he does appear in the regular YouGov polls of the most popular politicians in America. The good news is that, of the roughly 400 people that YouGov polls for, Franken is in the Top 10%. The bad news is that he's right around 40, which places him in the same neighborhood as Charlie Kirk, Ron Paul, Ilhan Omar, Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence. Clearly, this is where people who have a cadre of megafans, but also a cadre of megahaters, end up.
  
  
• How Does the Readership Feel?: We asked readers for their thoughts on Franken running for president; here are some of those responses:
  
  
  • E.S. in Providence, RI: Al Franken was extremely effective as a Senator, admirably taking up causes that were dear to his mentor Senator Paul Wellstone. I will never forgive Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) for hustling him out of the Senate for a childish joke and using it as a talking point in her vanity presidential campaign. That said, the Democrats can't afford to have another candidate who would be nearing 80 on Inauguration Day 2029 (if there is one).
    
    
  • R.R. in Potomac, MD: I really, really wish Al Franken could have run for president. He is smart, thoughtful, and caring. If he hadn't been caught up in the #MeToo movement for what was really very minor misbehavior (at least from what I've read about it) I think he might well have been a viable candidate. But he's too damaged still and probably too old. It's really a shame.
    
    
  • M.A. in Tucson, AZ: This is not about Al running for President... that is patently absurd. However, he was a good Senator and should be one again. We are waaaaaayyyyyyy past "fake touching of boobs" as a non-starter. He should never have been cashiered by the Democrats in the first place.
    
    
  • P.S. in Marion, IA: Aside from the obvious liabilities and controversies, Franken occupies a celebrity/intellectual/comedic space that has many more charismatic, funnier and more entertaining characters that'd be much more viable as a primary candidate.
    
    Even though the following have either outright declined or not given any serious inclination of running, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Mark Cuban, Stephen A. Smith, Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Maher are much more engaging and respected in terms of their liberal celebrity appeal.
    
    Franken fails to connect with mass audiences in the way those figures do, and would be viewed as decidedly B-list and incapable of generating any meaningful groundswell of support. Franken leaned heavily into feeling he had to prove he was "serious" from his initial razor-thin victory in 2008. His current podcast could easily masquerade as an NPR program, and Democrats know their biggest 2028 challenge is the perception of having their noses up to the average voter. Circle-jerk podcasts with Atlantic, NYT and WaPo columnists don't connect to anyone outside that bubble when the intellectual left (loosely) will be looking for someone who can go on Joe Rogan or Fox News. There's no realistic primary coalition for Franken.
    
    
  • M.S. in St. Louis Park, MN: Al Franken is one of the most intense listeners I have ever met. We met at a state DFL (In MN, that's Democrat) the year before he actually ran for Senate. He had two locally big-name opponents already; only one had a recruiting booth at the state convention. It had no literature and its volunteers had no information. Franken's booth, however, had at least 6 brochures, cards, position papers, etc., all of high campaign quality.
    
    I read over his position papers while waiting in the back of the convention hall to wave posters for a friend running for St. Paul school board. I noted the Harvard degree in public affairs. That, plus his literature, showed he was serious about public service. Then I saw him making the rounds of the hall, shaking hands. When he got to me, on impulse, I started briefing him about campaigning differences in rural Minnesota, mentioned specific issues in the town where I grew up, and ID'ed the big-money company that employed half the county. I said their website cited positions similar to his, and ID'd what was their biggest need from Congress.
    
    He leaned forward the whole time, listening with his eyes as well as his ears. I took a chance and warned him that his New York suit and California tan would read as "phony" to them and suggested jeans and plaid shirts, plus studying Hubert Humphrey's warnings about what would happen to small towns if big money took over agriculture. He appeared to memorize everything I said and thanked me very graciously before moving on.
    
    Over the years, I followed his activities in both the urban and the small town newspapers. He changed his look to match his surroundings and studied even the "boring" issues. He rivaled Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL-MN) in constituent service, and moved ahead of her in the presidential nomination gossip.The GOP noticed, and went after him. We lost an exceptional public servant, one who is still really popular here, who could have won here again.
    
    He won't run again; he's still traumatized by what they did to him. But he's still the best out there.
    
    
  • S.P. in Harrisburg, PA: Every ad his opponent's campaign will run will have the photo of Franken with his hand over the sleeping woman's boob.
  
  
• The Bottom Line: Too little, too late. If Franken had it all to do over, he might have been a viable presidential candidate in, say, 2020. But between the scandal, his having been out of politics for the better part of a decade, and his Biden-like age in 2029, his moment has passed.

Next week, it's #37, former Montana senator Jon Tester. If readers have comments about him running for president in 2028, please send them to comments@electoral-vote.com.