Secrets of the City

Specifically: Senate DFL candidate Al Franken is proposing a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress.

Al Franken has been telling jokes for 30 years. Slate looks at how his campaign explains away the bad ones.

If you had any doubts about our own SNL alum, check out this terrifying City Pages article.

Oh my Lord. Maybe appearing in drag should be the acid test for all our politicians.

The Atlantic interviews Al Franken: Where the script encouraged viewers to grab a bumper sticker, Franken deadpanned, “Remember, if you put one on your car, don’t cut anyone off. A brief debate ensued over whether buttons, too, should feature in the video, until Franken’s professional dignity asserted itself. “I don’t want this to be a prop act,” he protested, and added, with a grin, “I’m not Carrot Top.”

In a stellar example of investigatory journalism, City Pages has discovered that when Al Franken works out at the tony downtown high rise complex where he lives, he shouts words of encouragement to himself, bites his towel, growls like a dog, and yells at the television in the workout room during Twins games: “That doesn’t sound like him,” Barr said, adding that he would discuss the matter with Franken and get back to us. But, he warned, “This is sounding less and less like the kind of thing we’re going to have anything to say about.” Two days later, after the collapse of I-35W, Barr said, “We’ve got nothing for you.” Franken had been informed of what the Grant Park residents had to say, but, “I don’t really think that it’s the appropriate time for him to be commenting on what, with no disrespect intended, seems like kind of a light-hearted story,” Barr said.

“… I often think about how badly we need public financing of elections in this country. We need it because I should be out talking to Minnesotans about the issues that matter to their families. We need it so that I can spend my days meeting with policy experts and reading up on legislation and working with progressives all over the state to build a movement that can take on Norm Coleman next fall.”–Franken writing on The Huffington Post

Today is Al’s last radio show. From his Air America page: “At 2:30pm EST / 1:30pm Central, Al will make a special announcement about his future in Minnesota.” [Update: He's Running! (duh) Video here.]

Comedian and radio talk show host Al Franken has begun calling Democratic members of Congress and prominent DFLers to tell them he will definitely challenge Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008, the Star Tribune has learned.

[Via the MN Monitor] According to the Air America web site, the network will be sold to SLG Radio LLC and Franken’s last show will be on Valentine’s Day.