Pundits Assess Damage To Al Franken's Senate Campaign

IS HE FRANKENTOAST?

Scandals Undermine Al's Air Of Inevitability







After weeks of bad press related to his personal finances, unpaid taxes and worker's compensation premiums, is Al Franken's Minnesota US Senate bid officially toast?

Both inside the Beltway and the North Star State, this topic has the punditry buzzing like bees in the springtime.

To those of us who've been watching the alleged funnyman for some time, however, none of this comes as any surprise. Franken's long had a quirk when it comes to finances and it was just a matter of time before it would catch up to him. What's next?


(Frankentoast images by David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer)


In addition, the latest revelations (which include $70,000 of delinquent taxes owed to a whopping 17 states) follow another Franken personality pattern: his tendency to blame everything on others, with accountants an especially frequent target.

Al certainly was loath to admit he knew anything about Air America Radio's sleaze and scandal and that continues with the latest mess.

Sure enough, the latest flap was initially blamed on GOP operatives who had the nerve to dig into Franken's financial background. Your Radio Equalizer caught similar flak for investigating his outrageous salary and perks at a time when Air America was running short of cash and embroiled in a scandal over funds illegally diverted from a children's charity.

As one might expect, the DFL Party is still backing Franken, at least until the next damning revelations further sink his effort to remove Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) from office.

In fact, one conservative leader told yours truly he doesn't expect Stuart's core supporters to desert him, no matter how troubling the tax mess may become. "His supporters won't care," the veteran analyst believes.


Here are a couple of better questions: what's the point of Al Franken's campaign? And why is he running? While it might seem simplistic, we've never been given a clear understanding of what Smalley could bring to the US Senate and why it justifies knocking out the incumbent.

That's why Minnesota voters aren't necessarily buying into the inevitability of Franken beating Coleman in November, a concept generated inside the Beltway and based on Jesse Ventura's past gubernatorial victory.

But we all know how that worked out, and besides, Stuart lacks the charisma that characterized Ventura's unlikely win. Heck, Jesse's even funnier than Al, without even trying to be a comedian.


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