As unlikely as it may seem, it’s looking more and more like Saturday Night Live veteran Al Franken will be the next Senator from Minnesota:
MANKATO, Minn. — Al Franken settled into the Wagon Wheel Cafe and for 45 uninterrupted minutes talked with a handful of Minnesota farmers about the promise of cellulosic ethanol, the impact of the sinking dollar on crop prices and his pledge to secure a seat on the Agriculture Committee if he is elected to the U.S. Senate.
Then the Democrat worked the diner crowd, shaking hands and asking for support like a seasoned statesman, betraying no hint that he was once a longtime writer and actor on “Saturday Night Live” and a sharp-tongued liberal talk-radio host.
Nevertheless, after Franken left, Jodi Dickey dismissed his candidacy, saying it was “like Tina Fey running for office.” But then the undecided voter thought a bit more about the state of the country and reconsidered. “Actually, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.”
The political climate this year is such that Franken — best known for starring in an “SNL” skit in which his character stares into a mirror and attempts to reassure himself that, doggone it, people like him — has pulled ahead in his Senate race against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.
Just weeks ago, Coleman appeared to be headed for victory, one of a handful of Republicans expected to win in a tough year for the GOP. But then a bad economy turned grim, the public’s faith in Congress cratered, and support for Franken started to grow. The latest poll, a University of Wisconsin survey that came out Thursday, showed Franken ahead of Coleman 40 percent to 34 percent, his biggest lead of the race. Independent Dean Barkley was favored by 15 percent of those surveyed.
The RealClearPolitics average has Franken up by a slim 2.6 points, but that the two most recent polls from Rasmussen and the Big Ten Battleground poll show him leading well outside the margin of error. Additionally, Franken is likely being helped by the fact that Barack Obama has a double digit lead in the state and the existence of a strong third-party candidacy in the person of Independence Party (formerly the Reform Party) candidate Dean Barkley.
So, as disturbing as the idea of Stuart Smalley in the Senate might be, right now it’s looking like that’s exactly what we’re going to get.
