For a post-endorsement convention "I was wrong" update, see the update, HERE.
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photo as used, is from an original Strib had online, June 6, 2008, of Al Franken sharing coffee and conversation with convention delegate Kelsey Neumann
Recognition of the Goldfarb letter endorsing Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer has been posted, here. It was favorable to Jack, and not in any way attacking Franken.
Indirectly, however,Franken is at issue even within the Goldfarb letter. Its included idea of wanting to assure Norm Coleman has to run on his own record is sound. There should not be any weasel room for Coleman to avoid so running, by misdirection and trying to shift the focus to personal attacks against his DFL opponent. That means the opposition candidate should not be liable to being the focal attack point, as well as it means Colemann should be allowed no latitude in any effort to makeover his record of extreme Bush-love, Bush-loyalty, and Bush-servitude.
Clearly Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is the ideal candidate, based on his character and message, to contrast against the persona and deficiencies of the interloper now occupying the Wellstone senate seat.
Attacks on Franken (by others besides Nelson-Pallymeyer who has refused to speak other than of his own qualifications and record), have recently included cold comfort [ice-cold comfort] comments of "DFL'er Dean" Oberstar, [see post here], and these consciously parallel views seem to have all unconsciously been focused on or at least very cognizant of the entrenced GOP habit of continuously mucking out the elephant stable and shoveling from there into and onto their talk radio propaganda network and their paralleled hate mailings.
It's a reality. Janet Robert, Dem talk radio doyeen who must know how that stuff is done, strangely has yet to weigh in on the Franken situation. Franken, himself, surely knows how talk radio can be a weapon.
Moreover, three new items of reporting have appeared to add to momentum against Franken from within his party and now, also, from one of its traditional allies.
First, Paul Demko at Minnesota Monitor under the headline "Oberstar Revives Franken's Playboy Problems" has noted the Oberstar party Dean/uberfuhrer's cold shoulder toward Franken and links over to a PiPress story on Ciresi, reported via an AP wirefeed carried here":
Mike Ciresi tells reporters he hasn't ruled out a return to the DFL Senate race he dropped out of nearly three months ago.
Ciresi, a wealthy attorney, said he's been getting a lot of calls from around the state, and has kept "intense interest in the race."
Ciresi's comments came after one of his prominent supporters, Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, criticized a Playboy column by DFL Senate candidate Al Franken.
At least Ciresi, who Franken could view as one dispatching assassins, gets his calls "from around state" unlike my Congressperson, Michele Bachmann, who gets hers from God, including follow-up calls after a few days of family fasting. **
The PiPress/AP item understates Ciresi's political credentials, particularly his DFL credentials. Along with DFL AG Skip Humphrey he was instrumental in the tabacco recovery and getting discovery of the long-suppressed documentation from within the tabacco companies' files of knowledge plus down-playing of the risks of smoking. He moved the proof of culpable truth-suppressing conduct and intent from private files into general public-domain awareness. That was big.
Ciresi and members of his firm have been long time DFL regulars, including service from within the firm as co-chairs on the 2004 Kerry efforts in Minnesota, e.g., per here, and here.
What of the scenario, Franken wins repeated votes for endorsements, but below sixty percent? Will his support base weaken with people switching to Jack, or will the Ciresi delegate block hold tight to force a primary involving Ciresi? That would lend credence to the appearance of dispatched assassins.
Plus, why go to DC when you can stay home and make more money than Franken and Jack, put together, will ever see in their own lifetimes? Could a hint of Ciresi lurking lead Franken to endorse Jack and then withdraw embittered, taking all the loot he's raised for a campaign with him? Would Ciresi be too inhospitable to Jack as the banner carrier?
If I were in Franken's place, with my own party howling now louder than anyone in the GOP, for now at least, I would do exactly that. Endorse Jack, whatever Ciresi's true wishes might be, and leave the #^&%$#%^&^& ingrates to themselves. Al doubtlessly is more generous than I would be. Yet, still, if he cannot get the sixty percent margin and views it as at all Ciresi-instigated ---
Obviously I would prefer that bow-out-to-Jack scenario over a three-way primary contest with Nelson-Pallmeyer being most disadvantaged by lack of fighing cash.
If endorsed, the money will find Jack and he will not have to scrounge for it, but if having to slug through a primary --- the fight's there, no doubt of that, but would the money be?
And if there's a Senate primary, how much DFL attention and cash would that divert from the Congressional and State-office races? The less entrenched "regulars" such as Madia and Sarvi would suffer most, and each is a meritorious, hard-working and deserving fresh-face candidate, rather than a tired boss-chosen revolving-door hack. There is none of that to Madia, Sarvi, or to Jack.
It will be an interesting convention.
Will there be popcorn, rides, and cotton candy, to go with the three-ring amusement inside the tent?
In closing, getting to the last reporting - possibly the most damaging thing to Franken - an eleventh hour Planned Parenthood emailing expressing reservations [indeed accusations and opposition] concerning the Franken candidacy; see Strib current online reporting of the most recent circumstances, and Strib's reposting the email, here and then here; respectively the reporting and email text.
Strib in relevant part reported:
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar broke a week-long silence to urge Franken to acknowledge that the piece was "entirely inappropriate.''
On Thursday evening, Franken's campaign issued a statement in which the candidate said, in part, "I'm proud of my career as a satirist, which doesn't mean every joke I've ever told was funny, or, indeed, appropriate. I understand and regret that people have been legitimately offended by some of the things I've written."
Pressure on Franken about his writings has been building since late May, when the 2000 Playboy article was resurrected by Republicans.
In an e-mail Tuesday that went out to most DFL legislators, Connie Perpich, Planned Parenthood senior legislative director, said the group's political arm could find it "very difficult" to endorse Franken, saying the comments had gone "beyond the boundaries" for anyone seeking elective office.
Klobuchar was clearly dismayed by the controversy, saying Thursday that "this is a guy who has been married for 30 years. He loves his family and he cares about the issues. People need to know that. But they also need to hear him address his past inappropriate writings head on."
The email in its entirety states:
Dear Friends,
Below is a copy of a letter submitted to the Minneapolis Star Tribune last week in response to the excerpts from the Playboy article of Al Franken that was reported in the papers. If you have not yet actually read these quotes, we strongly suggest that you take the time to read them for yourself. We are quite confident that most Minnesotans will be very familiar with them towards November of this year.
We also want to express our appreciation for the perspectives expressed in the letter by Rep. Brod and Sen. Wergin that was distributed to the press yesterday and is referenced in today's metro papers. We are very concerned by the misogynist remarks of some of these statements and find them degrading to women. We certainly support First Amendment rights of all Americans, but do believe these comments have gone beyond the bounds of what is appropriate for any candidate for elected office. If half of these allegations are true, it is very difficult for us to foresee the Planned Parenthood of Minnesota Action Fund Board endorsing the candidacy of anyone with such extreme perspectives.
It is our understanding that you may want to converse with Congresswoman Betty McCollum, Congressman Tim Walz, Congressman Keith Ellison, Congressman Jim Oberstar or Congressman Collin Peterson on other potentially disturbing remarks that are rumored to also be part of Mr. Franken's repertoire. We hope that you will all join us in requesting that the DFL state and party leadership take seriously the offensive nature of these remarks and make every effort to fully inform all candidates for public office this year as to the true nature and extent of them.
Please join us at our Action Fund reception at the DFL convention this Friday evening from 6 - 8 p.m. on the lower level of the Kahler Hotel in Rochester. We would appreciate discussing with you at this time our strong objections in this matter.
Connie Perpich
Sr. Director for Legislative Affairs
Planned Parenthood
Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota
*** letter text follows***
Subject: Letter to Editor for Minneapolis Star Tribune For eighty years Planned Parenthood in Minnesota has pursued a mission to provide medically accurate education on human sexuality and reproduction. Issues such as unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections among teens need to be raised in public forums such as Congress and the state legislature. In those discussions, locker room humor is inappropriate, these are not laughing matters. It has been a long struggle to raise awareness of the dignity of girls and women in our society. It is unthinkable that the citizens of our state will turn their backs on those achievements. Minnesotans deserve, and in November will demand, candidates for state and federal office who reflect our values. They must be able to demonstrate not silliness, but maturity and responsibility in addressing issues of sexuality and reproductive health. Sarah Stoesz President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Minnesota.
All of this reminds me quite a bit of the best Senator Minnesota never had, Don Fraser, and how forces combined to scuttle his meritorious attempt to further serve the State. I see "Dean" Oberstar being disinclined toward Nelson-Pallmeyer over Ciresi if that were his choice to make, and I view him as not particularly turned off by a possibility of political in-fighting and intrigues. I hope Jack fares better than Fraser, and does not have his efforts undone by intra-party discord.
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** The Michele Bachmann family -- The family that fasts together lasts together???