TeamFranken supporters, interns, staffers, volunteers and the Franken family gathered at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis to watch Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination. As the days to the election count down, we’re working hard to make sure that Al Franken will join a (larger) Democratic majority in the Senate to work with President Obama in Washington – and one of our very hard-working interns had the chance to introduce Al to the crowd for our Obama Watch Party.

Meet Nate, a communications intern from St. Louis Park.

As Thomasin, Al’s daughter, introduced me to a very large and enthusiastic crowd at the Parkway Theater, I was feeling a lot of emotions, including a deathly fear. But I was also focusing on the great opportunities that I have been offered over the last 3 months, which I have spent working on this campaign. As I approached this summer I really had no clue what the Franken campaign experience would be like, but as soon as I started the atmosphere of excitement surrounding this campaign immediately drew me in.

Intern Nate Introduces Al

And now here I was, introducing Al to a huge crowd of people. I began by announcing that I thought my speech would probably be more eloquent than Barack Obama’s. I won’t be offended if you’re in doubt – because I agree, Mr. Obama did give an amazing speech – but mine was really good.

Regardless of whether my oratorical skills exceed Mr. Obama’s or not, our Obama Watch Party was an overwhelming success from start to finish. After my (excellent) introduction, Al wowed the crowd with an incredible one-two combo of humor and intelligence. On the theme of change, he spoke about the work that we must all put in to help elect both Barack Obama as president, and Al himself to the Senate. When Al was done, everyone settled into their seats as Barack Obama finally appeared on the huge screen before them. For those who couldn’t quite afford the trip out to Colorado just for the speech, this was the next best thing. Watching Barack Obama’s inspiring speech in a room full of excited and applauding supporters and with our next Senator from Minnesota was a thrill which can’t be put into words (even by a master wordsmith such as myself).

Al Fires Up the Crowd Before Obama’s Speech

As the evening was winding to a close, and the buzz of Obama’s speech was flowing through the room, I thought to myself what an exciting time it is to be a Democrat in Minnesota. Beside the opportunity we have to help elect the most inspiring and eloquent politician of my lifetime to the presidency, Barack Obama, we also have the opportunity to elect the most passionate candidate (and one of the funniest) – Al Franken – to the United States Senate. And I’ve been proud to be a part of it.

As I head back to school in a few days, I can look back with a great feeling of accomplishment on this summer. This has been an unbelievable first experience in politics.

The end of August signals a lot of things in the campaign – the State Fair, people are starting to pay more attention to politics, and this year it meant a fantastic candidate accepting the Democratic presidential nomination – but it also means we are in a major intern transition. Many of our wonderful summer interns, like Nate, are leaving to go away to college, and we need new recruits to help out on the campaign through the election. To apply or if you have any questions about interning or volunteering, email our intern coordinator at interns@alfranken.com.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 30th, 2008 at 9:25 am and is filed under From the Trail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.