They are mirror images of each other. Al is a Minnesota native, raised in St. Louis Park on the always-now west-side of Minneapolis. Smart and funny, he went to New York as a young man and hit it big as a writer and performer on SNL. His political jokes and impersonations--a glorious, grinning Pat Robertson--were sharp and true. Always funny, his serious side came through, and he went back home to run for Paul Wellstone's Senate seat, now held by Norm Coleman.
Norm is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. who went to St. Paul for college, got a law degree, and, as a Democrat, was hired by the office of Minnesota's Attorney General, Skip Humphrey, son of the great Hubert Humphrey.
Norm made a name for himself in local politics and got elected mayor of St. Paul on the Democratic ticket. He soon switched to the Republicans, and, as it was reported at the time, took Dick Cheney's telephoned counsel to heart and ran against Sen. Paul Wellstone in 2002. Wellstone died in a plane crash in late October and Norm became a Senator, defeating Fritz Mondale who came to the aid of his party.
The recount tonight has Al Franken ahead by about 252 votes and it doesn't appear likely that Coleman has an encore in him. And last week it was learned that the FBI is investigating him for possible corruption: some money from a rich guy in Bloomington, or some such.
All this over the U.S. Senate seat that had been hard-earned by the humble, public-spirited Paul Wellstone. Who speaks of him in the midst of this carnival? He was a United States Senator, these two others are puppies jumping up for the bone.
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