The AP is reporting that Al Franken is taking active steps to correct accounting errors in his tax liability over the past few years:

“We paid taxes on every cent of income we ever had,” Franken told AP. “What happened is our accountant made a mistake, and all of these are repercussions of that same mistake. His mistake was not understanding the law, the obligation to pay these state taxes.”

The nitty-gritty facts of the matter are disclosed in the AP story, but the short of it is that the Frankens paid taxes on all their income in MN and NY instead of within the 17 states Franken has earned income over the past 4 years. Two things need to be said about this:

First of all, if the Frankens paid taxes on every single cent earned, then this truly isn’t an issue of tax evasion; I mean, why go through the bother of paying at all then? It seems that the sum gain Franken occurred due to the relative tax rates was about $4000; not enough to be worth this trouble. In short, it seems that this is legitimately an accounting error and that’s not just clever spin.

Second, the states aren’t the ones asking for money. This isn’t a story that the GOP had their hands on, it’s something that the campaign started researching when the accountant’s prior mistakes were realized. They did the research, and now the Frankens are willfully correcting the mistake by repaying the taxes owed to the various states; in some cases this is as little as $53.

I’m not going to sugar-coat this, all these issues have made for some rough times for the Franken campaign over the last month, but I can honestly say that this step by the campaign is encouraging. The campaign seems to be at the front of this now and has decided to take the path of full, willful disclosure–a choice that will hopefully get this all out there. I just got a tip from inside Franken campaign HQ that 100 phone bankers are calling every delegate in the state to tell them the story before they read it in the paper and, if the emails I’m getting are any indication, the delegates are on board with the rapid response.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to go ask my accountant a few questions about my returns; these guys can make mistakes…

Minnesota DFLers have a lot of reasons to be incredibly excited this cycle. Franken’s running a legitimately refreshing and politically rejuvenating campaign; Congressman Tim Walz is running a tremendous campaign; it looks like we’re going to have a candidate in the 6th that’s actually a good fit for the district; we have a guy in the 2nd that, on paper, has a real shot at Kline; and the 3rd CD is in play for the first time in, well, forever. This is fun, this is exciting, this is great for party building, but let’s not get carried away because one thing it won’t be is easy.

I think there are a small selection of DFLers who are reading about all the excitement and getting wrapped up in the legitimate enthusiasm of so many in the party and thinking that this is going to be a landslide year for us; it’s not. Look, everyone should be excited, but no one should kid themselves about the difficult road ahead of us; if we delude ourselves into thinking we’ll win all of these no problem, we’ll lose.

I don’t mean to be a party-pooper, in fact I’ll be an enthusiastic cheer-leader for all these guys over the next 6+ months, but let’s take a look at the odds for a sec. I’ll get the easier analysis out of the way first: Walz has a tough race ahead and he needs the vigilant help of activists, but this is his race to lose and Davis doesn’t pose a significant challenge. Franken and Coleman are at 50/50 and it’s anyone’s game; this race is going to be nuts but I think people’s expectations here are grounded and reasonable.

Note: In the below numbers I’m not predicting the end vote, I’m just assessing odds; the two are slightly different in my mind. I don’t mean, for example, that the vote in the 2nd is going to break 60/40 in November.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th are all tough, tough races for us, however. Sarvi is an excellent match for the district and serves as an amazing contrast to Kline given their shared military experience, but without more money, he’s sunk. Kline’s been there forever, he has a machine built, and he has enough money to weather the dry-spell the GOP’s having nationally in fundraising this year; in short, he’s a huge tree to topple. Sarvi has the skills, he has the resume, but now he needs the money; in a really big way. Odds: 60/40 for Kline.

The 6th, I think, is actually an even longer shot for us. If El had been the candidate in 2006, Bachmann might be unemployed right now, but she isn’t, she’s in Congress. And, for whatever reason, she resonates very well in the 6th and has tons of money right now. El’s a great fit for this district, but his chances are much slimmer this cycle than they would have been in ‘06. That being said, I can’t imagine a better candidate for the district and I can’t imagine us having this good of a shot at the district until it’s redistricted. Odds: 65/35 for Bachmann.

And, finally, the 3rd. It seems as though there are some people who think that the 3rd is ours to lose and I want to state for the record that this is absolutely ludicrous. To be sure we have a real shot at this seat for the first time, but the odds have never been in our favor. This is still a Republican leaning district and the biggest GOP donors in the state are all within its boundaries. And Ramstad will still be a force in this district and he’ll be campaigning for Paulsen–a huge advantage. Madia or Bonoff, this was and has always been a very steep hill to climb. That being said, I think this is our best pick-up chance this cycle. Madia has a great story to tell, he’s going to raise tons of cash, and Obama being on the ticket is going to mobilize a lot of suburbanites to vote Democratic. Odds: 55/45 for Paulsen.

Now, all of the above (especially my “odds” numbers) should be taken with a large grain of salt, but I felt the need to write something sobering lest our exuberance gets carried away. We have the best slate of candidates for these districts that we could ask for, but it’s going to take tons of elbow grease and cash to get it done. So, don’t let anyone rest on their laurels; let’s get out there and beat the odds.

Well, better late than never.

And because I’m lazy and it’s finals period, here’s the press release from the DFL:

Former Minister, Mayor, Transportation Commissioner Ready to Defeat Vulnerable Michele Bachmann in High-Profile Race

St. Paul, MN (April 26, 2008) Grassroots DFL delegates in Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District today endorsed former Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg to run against first-term Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Tinklenberg received 72.4 percent of the vote on the first ballot at the Sixth District DFL convention in Andover. In response, the Minnesota DFL Party released the following statement from Chair Brian Melendez:

“I’m thrilled with grassroots DFLers’ endorsement today of El Tinklenberg. His firm commitment to the core DFL values of shared prosperity, responsibility and fair play ensure that he will put Minnesota’s middle class first. As Minnesotans are rightfully concerned about the foreclosure crisis, skyrocketing gas prices and the Iraq war’s drain on our economy — and as Michele Bachmann is still waging a relentless war on the middle class — Tinklenberg fits the Sixth District perfectly.

“What’s more, his calm, steady demeanor and his approachability strike an extreme contrast with Michele Bachmann’s increasingly bizarre antics and bunker mentality.

“The DFL Party will fight in every corner of the Sixth District to elect Elwyn Tinklenberg and restore common-sense, independent Minnesota values and basic respectability to Congress. We plan to make sure that Michele Bachmann becomes merely an embarrassing, one-term footnote in Minnesota history.”