Sen. Klobuchar, Al Franken, Vice President Gore

Vice President Al Gore joined DFL leaders like Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Congressmen Tim Walz and Keith Ellison at the University of Minnesota on Saturday for a DFL Founders Day rally to support Al Franken for Senate. Vice President Gore spoke to a crowd of almost 1500 people about the importance of this election, and the importance of working hard to get Democrats up and down the ticket elected this November.

Read excerpts from an AP article on the event after the jump…

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The Record, a student newspaper at College of St. Benedict / St. John’s University, just came out with a story about student political activity and the great response Al got when he visited. Like college students around Minnesota and the country, CSB/SJU students are really excited for this election!

From their story:

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“You’re the ones that are going to make the difference in this campaign, the 18 to 30(year-olds),” Franken said. “We’re going to do this. We’re going to change this country, and it’s going to be in your hands.”

Sophomore Alan Albert participated in the march and said he supports Franken. “I like his beliefs, his politics, everything that he stands for,” Albert said. “He’s a down to earth guy . . . and I think we can relate to him very easily.”

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Read more excerpts from the article after the jump…
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Franni headed south to New Ulm last week to doorknock with volunteers and then for a meet & greet with local DFLers.

The New Ulm Journal stopped by to check it out and chat with Franni for a few minutes:

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Franni also talked about her own background. Her father was killed in a car accident when she was a teenager. The tragedy left her mother with four children and Social Security survivor’s benefits.

She said her husband feels that the role of government is to provide a safety net and to provide opportunities. While Social Security helped the family survive, the federal Pell Grant, which provides financial assistance for college to those who qualify, helped her through college. At one time, the Pell Grant covered 90 percent of the cost of going to college; it now covers only 30 percent, she said. That is another thing that Franken’s husband wants to fix.

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Read more from the article after the jump…

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By AL FRANKEN
September 28, 2008

There is no denying that the reconstruction of Iraq — an endeavor to which we have committed tens of billions of dollars and a significant amount of our prestige on the world stage — has been a disaster. Less well-known, but just as important for Minnesotans to consider, is Sen. Norm Coleman’s role in that disaster.

Because of waste, fraud, incompetence and abusive contracting practices by companies our government trusted to do this important job, billions were wasted, stolen or lost. Pallets of shrink-wrapped American currency simply disappeared from airport hangars. Greedy contractors got no-bid “cost-plus” contracts that guaranteed a set percentage over and above every dollar they managed to spend. Some, not content with this sweetheart arrangement, even made up fake invoices claiming they’d spent more than they did. And we paid Halliburton billions while it overcharged the military for oil it delivered from Kuwait and served our troops rotten food.

Let’s be very clear here: Ripping off the taxpayer in a time of war is a betrayal of the highest order. And the cost of this fraud cannot be measured in dollars alone.

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Read full op-ed after the break…
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By Al Franken
St. Cloud Times

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For everyone who loses a home, there are many more who lose their home equity. In the Twin Cities, for instance, home values have declined 14.8 percent in the past year. The Center for Responsible Lending estimates that the crisis could end up affecting more than a half-million Minnesota homeowners, costing us $2.3 billion in wealth.

Home equity is the foundation on which middle-class wealth is built – and the foundation is now cracking. With this crisis threatening our neighbors, our communities, and our middle-class economy, we need immediate action. That’s why I’ve called for three steps to fix our housing market.

First: a lifeline for struggling homeowners. I want an immediate and temporary moratorium on foreclosures of primary residences so that we can stop the bleeding in the housing market and allow our neighbors to get their heads above water.

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Read the full op-ed after the jump…
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