Stockpiling

Al Franken Coming to New York City for Coffey

Senator Al Franken is coming to New York City to help raise for Sean Coffey’s attorney general campaign.

The two political neophytes crossed paths ten years ago aboard the John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier. Mr. Coffey, a former Naval officer, was on a reserve duty assignment as a Navy Captain during the International Naval Review Read More

Cable

NBC and Comcast Merge and That’s … O.K.

Let the record show that Al Franken, freshman senator from Minnesota, bears little resemblance to Al Franken, onetime Saturday Night Live funnyman. At an otherwise genteel subcommittee grilling of the top executives from NBC Universal and Comcast over their proposed media mega-merger last week, Mr. Franken had none of the self-doubt of his famously sheepish Read More

With Friends Like These… Midwestern Democrats Fight Climate Policy

On August 6th, ten Midwestern Democratic Senators sent a letter to President Obama that began the hardball phase of creating climate policy as it moves from the House’s Waxman-Markey bill to Senate deliberations in the fall. In this letter, the Senators insist that climate change legislation must protect U.S. manufacturers from unfair foreign competition.  They Read More

Party of Franken Rises, Party of Palin Falls

The new senator from Minnesota is a comedian, writer and actor who lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and raised a lot of money from friends in Hollywood. The departing governor of Alaska is a hockey mom from a small backwoods town who likes to hunt and fish. Yet Al Franken looks wholesomely Read More

What Is Norm Coleman Thinking Now?

The walls are closing in on Norm Coleman.

Officially, the Minnesota Republican has been pursuing a legal contest of the state Canvassing Board's January 5 declaration that he'd been defeated by Al Franken by 225 votes in last November's Senate election.

But, really, that was just Coleman's cover story, a tactic to buy time to Read More

If You Liked Al Franken, You’ll Love Chris Matthews

With a run-off in Georgia set for Tuesday and a lengthy recount still ongoing in Minnesota, not all of this year's Senate races have been resolved. And yet it is a contest that won't even take place for two years that has arguably stirred the most interest this past week.

For months, it's been obvious Read More

If You Liked Al Franken, You’ll Love Chris Matthews

With a run-off in Georgia set for Tuesday and a lengthy recount still ongoing in Minnesota, not all of this year’s Senate races have been resolved. And yet it is a contest that won’t even take place for two years that has arguably stirred the most interest this past week.

For months, it’s been obvious Read More