Franken taking aim at Coleman

“Tomorrow, we get back to work.”

At those words, as Al Franken finished his acceptance speech, red, white and blue confetti burst from the ceiling and the Kinks’ “I Hope Tomorrow You’ll Find Better Things” blared from the loud speakers.

The comedian had officially become a candidate.

Despite a week of negative attention resulting from past writings that have offended some people and politicians – on a bi-partisan basis – Franken is the DFL candidate for U.S. Senate.

He will face first-termer Norm Coleman, the Republican who used to be a Democrat and mayor of St. Paul and won election to the Senate a few weeks after the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife and others died in an airplane crash.

Franken made it perfectly clear that he is going to try to make Coleman and his record of supporting President George Bush the primary themes of his campaign.

His challenge, as Democrats and Republicans agree, will be to make sure that the GOP is not successful in making Franken himself the focus of the campaign.

State Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), Minnesota Senate Majority Leader, predicted that “in about a month” people will know whether Franken can do that and have a chance to beat Coleman.

Arlys Graff, a delegate from Le Sueur who supported University of St. Thomas peace professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, said it was a bit “sad. But that’s what happens with elections. .. I think we’re pretty united to beat Norm Coleman.”

David Beecham, an alternate delegate from St. Paul, held a sign with one side supporting Franken and the other Nelson-Pallmeyer.

Beecham, a Franken supporter, praised Nelson-Pallmeyer’s decision to withdraw his bid for the endorsement. “I am a big Jack fan right now, as a result of what he just did. This is symbolic of unity in the party. The making goal has been to unseat Norm Coleman.”

Franken gave an animated acceptance speech, taking hard aim at Coleman and linking him with Bush.

“We have been waiting for eight years … and we have seen a new progressive majority in this state and in this country,” Franken said. “And we know what we want – we want universal health care; we want an economy that works for all of us and not just special interests; we want global warming initiatives that will create a green economy.

“And we want to restore our standing in the world, starting by getting out of Iraq and bringing our troops home.”

Franken promised that he and his staff will work hard by “getting up early and staying up late. … And we are going to do that because 5 million people in Minnesota need representation in Washington, and Norm Coleman has not been doing that. Norm Coleman has not brought people together to get things done; he has sold people out to get ahead.”

Now that Franken has secured the DFL nomination, some are wondering whether wealthy lawyer Mike Ciresi, Franken’s one-time primary rival for the nomination, will get back into the race and challenge Franken.

Speculation also has it that Jesse Ventura, Minnesota’s former governor and an Independent, will get into the race.

(Capitol Report staff writer Charley Shaw contributed to this post.)