Franken teared up when he talked about people’s concerns that the protracted Senate race was taking an emotional toil on him and his family.
“What we’ve been through is just nothing, especially when compared to what so many Minnesota families have been going through during this same period. When you win an election, what you really win is a chance to go to work for working families who need a voice in Minnesota,” he said.
Al invoked Paul Wellstone and his philosophy to explain how he would work for Minnesotans:
“Paul looked at his job as improving people’s lives and that’s what I want to do,” Franken said Tuesday
Read more here.
This was a nasty campaign on both sides. But Al seems to be humbled by his opportunity to serve Minnesotans, concerned about the challenges we are facing right now, and aware that he has a lot of work to do to win the support of all the Minnesotans who did not vote for him. I hope all Minnesotans will give him the chance to earn their support.
interview on the uptake was great.
I’ve been a critic of Franken as most of you know, and it is not lost on me that Franken enters the Senate with a higher % of his constituents having voted against him than anyone in Minnesota’s history. Look at it this way — Franken goes to DC with a level of voter support mathematically closer to what loser Mark Kennedy pulled in 2006 than what Wellstone ever got, and Wellstone never even got 51% of the vote.
But Franken said one thing that, if he makes good on, I’ll begin to shift my opinion of him. He said that he isn’t going to Washington to be the 60th Democrat in the Senate, he is going to Washington to be the 2nd Senator from Minnesota. I suspect he is a good enough speechwriter to say in all of his speeches that he is working for Minnesotans. If his actions, however, more closely resemble interests of Minnesota than interests of his party, I’ll begin to respect him. If he is simply the 60th D vote, little with change in my opinion.
With that, I’ll shut up. (I hear a chorus of “thank you’s”). My guy lost and any more would be sour grapes. Congrats on the win Franken and supporters.
“If his actions, however, more closely resemble interests of Minnesota than interests of his party”
They already do. he says he’s against DADT, is for same-sex marraige, and strongly supports a public option in health care reform. Clearly, his views are closer to those of most Minnesotans than the party’s are.
dtm is thus ecstatic!
Yes. Franken represents the state well.
And he indulges the intrusion of the public, even while he feels it looming down on him.
Its nice to have someone that appears to actually feel the words he says, instead of just saying them
because its expected.
The uptake interview was too short. Didn’t hit on enough substantive, or even lighthearted things that
would have given us a better sense of Franken. He should really go on for interviews every couple of weeks, or once a month as was suggested.
Hearing him weigh in like Bernie Sanders on Hartmann’s program & selecting independent media that will allow
him to finish sentences, so long as he doesn’t spin us, would be great.