Wondering what Norm Coleman has been up to this week while Al was talking about lowering energy costs and making prescription drugs affordable? He’s been trying to figure out what to do about his ties to indicted Republican Senator Ted Stevens. Here’s a sampling of what the media has been saying.

Associated Press:

Comedian-turned-Democratic candidate Al Franken called on Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to return campaign donations from Stevens. In a statement, Franken’s spokesman said, “(N)ow that (Coleman’s) political patron has been indicted for breaking the law, he needs to return those contributions immediately and explain his role in this scandal.”

Read more from the Wall Street Journal, Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, Talking Points Memo, and The Hill after the jump…

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Al Announces His Plan to Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Yesterday, Al stood with Minnesota seniors and former nurse Rep. Erin Murphy from St. Paul to announce new proposals to take Medicare back from the big pharmaceutical companies and lower the cost of prescription drugs.

The Star Tribune, Pioneer Press and MPR all wrote about Al’s proposals to allow Medicare to negotiate drug costs with drug makers, to ban drug companies from advertising directly to consumers, and to allow safe re-importation of drugs from Canada.

Read excerpts from the coverage after the jump…

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After kicking things off at a rally in St. Louis Park on Monday, Al traveled the state this week to present his economic proposals to help ease the burden on the middle-class and hear from Minnesotans about what they need from Washington.

At a stop in Rochester, local TV station KTTC estimated that about 100 people attended a rally where Al spoke about his proposals. In their story about the event, they also included this part of Al’s speech:

Al Franken says, “Buying a home or starting a small business; saving for a secure retirement. It’s harder to reach for your dreams when it takes both hands to hold everything together.”

From the Rochester Post-Bulletin, which also covered the event:

DFL Senate candidate Al Franken touted his plan for bringing tax relief to middle-class Minnesotans during a campaign stop in Rochester on Wednesday.

Franken, who has made middle-class tax relief a central element of his campaign for U.S. Senate, first unveiled his “kitchen table tax relief” package earlier this week. On Wednesday, Franken spelled out its key elements to a Rochester audience, including new tax credits to cover the cost of child care, expanded family leave options and a new way of saving for retirement.

Franken said that by most economic indicators — health care costs, gas prices, the number of home foreclosures — the American middle class is falling behind. He blamed President Bush and his GOP opponent, Sen. Norm Coleman, for supporting policies that have largely favored the wealthy, while leaving the middle class in an economic hole. He described his own plan as a kind of ladder that would help the middle class climb out of that hole.

Read more from other stops on the tour after the jump…

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After Al announced his new common-sense solutions to ease the middle-class economic burden yesterday, the Star Tribune and MPR wrote about Al’s new proposals and the rest of our busy week here at TeamFranken (check out our new web video!)

Read excerpts from the stories after the jump…

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Al with Rep. Steve Simon

Al unveiled new common-sense solutions to ease the squeeze on Minnesota’s middle class at a rally in his hometown of St. Louis Park today, where a tremendous crowd gathered to listen as Al proposed new ways to ease the burden on Minnesota families.

Al offered three new proposals:

• Kitchen Table Tax Relief a set of tax credits designed to ease the burden on families caring for children or elderly loved ones
• 21st Century Family Leave a new family leave policy to address 21st-century family structures
• The 401(u) a revolutionary new type of retirement account to help every Minnesotan develop long-term financial security

Read the press release about the event.

Read the proposals.

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Al at the Senior Dinner

This year was the 25th Annual Rondo Days Festival. Al attended the Senior Dinner, where he had the opportunity to talk to people who had lived in the Rondo neighborhood about their lives and experiences. The dinner hosted an amazing gathering of people, including Rondo community leaders, elected officials such as St. Paul City Council Member Melvin Carter, and Minnesota civil rights leaders such as Matthew Little. (Little led the Minnesota delegation at the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.)

Thomasin Leads the Contingent at the Rondo Days Parade

A few days later was the annual Rondo Days Grand Parade. Thomasin arrived early to walk through the fair and chat with folks, and say hello to people along the parade route. When the parade began, Thomasin and other TeamFranken volunteers joined with Melvin and Toni Carter, the Obama campaign, and many other activists and leaders on the DFL parade float.

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Al shares a laugh at the DFL Summer BBQ

This Saturday was the DFL’s summer BBQ at their St. Paul headquarters. There isn’t much nicer than a good BBQ on a sunny summer day, so there was a big happy crowd. DFL staffers worked the grills (those who weren’t relegated to the dunk tank) while candidates, union members, members of Congress and others mixed and mingled. Al spent the afternoon talking to folks about the state of the Minnesota Senate race or just chatting about whatever else they had in mind. Al’s daughter Thomasin came along as well to talk to folks and enjoy the day.

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TeamFranken spread out across the state for the 4th of July to hit as many parades as we could. From Coon Rapids to International Falls to St. Peter, you might have seen folks in Franken t-shirts passing out stickers and waving signs at any one of thirty-seven parades around Minnesota.

The Franken family also struck out in different directions for the 4th of July. Al, Franni, Thomasin and Joe spent the day traveling between different parades to walk with local Franken volunteers. Al walked in five 4th of July parades in the course of two days –­ and by walked, we mean ran, because Al spent every single parade running back and forth across the street. There were high fives, photos, hugs, cheers and chants as Al moved along the parade route talking to everyone he could.

As the weekend wrapped up, we started hearing anecdotes from all over. Read a few of our favorites after the jump…

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On his way to the 4th of July parade in Aurora last Thursday night, Al stopped in Hibbing to support local union members who had gathered to protest Wal-Mart’s use of out-of-state non-union contractors for a multi-million-dollar remodeling project.

From the Hibbing Daily Tribune:

Franken said he recently visited a union laborers’ training center and “was amazed” at how well the workers were trained. “Anyone would be crazy not to buy a place” built with union labor, he said.

“We have to get back in this country to where we care about quality, and we care about paying people enough, so these people can buy things and have a good quality of life,” Franken said.

“We’re in a downward spiral,” he added. “We need to stop it, and start going back up, and this is the way to do it (while pointing at the protesters).”

Read the rest of the article to learn more.

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Al held an afternoon news conference in front of a Duluth gas station on Thursday to outline short- and long-term solutions for high gas prices and the energy crisis. If you live in Duluth, you might have read about it in the Duluth News Tribune or seen part of it on TV. If you missed it, you can watch the Northland’s NewsCenter TV coverage.

Or check out the Duluth News Tribune story.

Coleman’s energy policy is “by the oil companies for the oil companies,” Franken said later that day, during an afternoon news conference at the Duluth Holiday station at 26th Avenue East and London Road.

“The middle class is being squeezed to the breaking point, and the breaking point might be gas prices,” Franken said, noting the price of gas at the station behind him stood at $3.979 a gallon.

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Short-term steps include closing loopholes allowing speculators to drive up crude oil prices, having federal investigators look for marketplace manipulation, rescinding tax subsidies to oil companies and using that money to invest in renewable energy, mass transit and highways. Franken would also tax oil companies’ windfall profits and pass a middle class tax cut.

Long-term solutions include developing renewable energy sources, increasing energy efficiencies and offering more mass transit.

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