Monday

Last Monday, Senator Klobuchar, Congressman Ellison, and many more DFL leaders united behind Al and DFL congressional candidates El Tinklenberg and Steve Sarvi at a news conference at the Minnesota State Capitol.

As soon as the news conference was over, Al was off on a four day “Standing Up for Minnesota” tour around the state. A Duluth rally at the Labor Temple’s Wellstone Hall kicked things off, where Al spoke to the crowd from in front of a portrait of Sen. Paul Wellstone. The Duluth News Tribune called it “an apt place to start a general election bid to unseat the late Sen. Paul Wellstone’s successor, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.” Read the rest of that article, or watch TV coverage of the rally.

From Duluth, TeamFranken headed off for a meet & greet in Grand Rapids at Brewed Awakenings, where we met a “full house of local residents” (don’t take our word for it, check out the Grand Rapids Herald-Review article.) We grabbed some of Brewed Awakenings’ excellent soup (Pad Thai!) on the way out and headed to Bemidji, where folks packed into the Green Mill to welcome Al. And Al got a chance to get some of his favorite walleye to go. The Bemidji Pioneer came by to cover the action:

“We want an economy that works for everyone, not just the special interests,” Franken said to about 50 supporters crammed into the Green Mill’s Lantern Room. “That means rebuilding the middle class in this country. That means rebuilding the labor movement in this country.”

Tuesday

Tuesday was a full day of meet & greet stops – from Moorhead to St. Cloud, and just a few places in between.

At Atomic Coffee in Moorhead, Al asked the standing-room-only crowd of supporters to sign on to the campaign, because “We’ve got a lot of work to do.” The Fargo Forum wrote it up as ‘Franken Seeks Change.’

Attendees Adam and Kari Burnside described themselves as big Franken supporters. They said his speech Tuesday reinforced that stand.

“Classic Al Franken,” Adam Burnside said. “He points out all the things that are wrong and provides a road map for the future. Does it all with humor, with facts, with intelligence.”

Check out the newspaper coverage of the Detroit Lakes meet & greet - ‘Fired-up Franken holds DL rally.’

Al stopped in Fergus Falls as well – and a hundred people showed up (Al actually had to stand on a chair)! Here’s a snippet from the Fergus Falls Daily Journal article.

Before leaving Fergus Falls, Franken asked for supporters’ help in electing him to Washington.

“We have to get up early and stay up late,” Franken said.

“We have to knock on doors until our feet are tired, and then phone bank when we’re done.”

“We have to do this not just for ourselves, but for the other 5 million Minnesotans. “

“(Senator) Norm Coleman has sold people out to get ahead. It’s time someone in the Senate from Minnesota takes this job seriously.”

Franken vowed to be that person.

In Alexandria, Al wrapped up a meet & greet at the Daily Grind House of Java with an interview with local TV station KSAX, where Al commented on the terrible vote Sen. Coleman had just taken that afternoon on the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008. It would have provided tax incentives for renewable energy, research and development, tuition, and teachers who have to buy school supplies out of their own pockets. And it would have done that by closing a loophole on hedge fund managers making income from off shore. Seriously. Hedge fund managers. Over farmers, students, teachers, and Minnesota. Wow. Terrible vote.

Well, then it was off to join Al’s daughter Thomasin in St. Cloud. The DFL office was all decked out in Franken and Tinklenberg signs, and the life-size cardboard cutout of Obama…check out the Waite Park Newsleader’s story.

Fresh from his endorsement triumph last week in Rochester, DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken rallied the faithful in St. Cloud June 10 at DFL party headquarters.

Wednesday

After a morning of radio interviews, it was off to Pipestone. The Pipestone County Star came along to see how the meet & greet went.

“I am a Sputnik kid,” Franken told one adult.

Listeners within earshot expected a punchline, but what they got was a Franken riff on the importance of government investment in higher education, science and technology, a strategy he said, that fueled America’s prosperity in the 1960’s.

The Rock County Star Herald has video of Al’s meet & greet in Luverne. After the meet & greet, Al also visited the Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant in Luverne, where he talked about the relative benefits of different types of ethanol.

In the afternoon, Al made stops at local papers. The Marshall Independent wrote about Al’s knowledge of rural issues and his support for investing in renewable energy.

Thursday

Thursday started out well with a gathering of supporters at Trumble’s Restaurant in Albert Lea. You can read the Albert Lea Tribune’s story, but we couldn’t resist including this endorsement from a supporter:

“Al is known for being a comedian, but if you listen to his message, he’s thoughtful and caring — he’s his own man,” said Albert Lean Karen Meyerson. “We need people who are not afraid to speak their mind, rather than a guy who rubber-stamps.”

Then it was on to the Waseca meet & greet, one of the more crowded events of the week. 80 people squeezed into the cozy State Street Bistro and cheered as Al spoke about the upcoming election and asked for their help.

From the Waseca County News:

Turning his attention to his opponent, Franken said Minnesotans want a voice in Washington, and Coleman is not that voice. Coleman, Franken said, works more for the large corporations than for Minnesotans.

“We need a senator who takes this job seriously; I’ll be that senator,” he said. “I don’t have all the answers but I’ll tell the truth, keep my spine and work for you,” he said.

Al also made time to talk to local reporters, and the Mankato Free Press remarked on how those interviews displayed Al’s grasp of the issues:

With the troops rallied, Franken spent a few minutes doing media interviews where he was making it very clear that he’s no lightweight in his understanding of federal issues. Talking with a TV reporter, the former political satirist and Saturday Night Live comedy writer appeared to go out of his way to delve deeply into the intricacies of federal energy legislation and his energy proposals.

By the time he got to a newspaper reporter, Franken was explaining the importance of expanding the tax credit for wind energy to earned income — not just passive income — to promote more investment in wind turbines by farmers and other average landowners.

In Northfield, instead of a standard meet & greet, Al walked through the downtown area talking to business owners and other folks about health care, property taxes and other issues facing small businesses. (Read the Northfield News’ account of Al’s visit.)

A very tired TeamFranken crew wrapped up the whirlwind four day tour of Minnesota with a rally at the CWA Hall in Minneapolis, where supporters gathered to welcome Al home as their DFL endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate. (The SCSU University Chronicle has the story.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 15:58 and is filed under From the Trail, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.