Al Franken for Senate

I feel a genuine sense of loss over the end of Al Franken's show on Air America Radio. It was a great national conversation. I will miss the comedy and the first-rate political analysis. I hope Joe Conason, Tom Oliphant, Christy Harvey and the rest of Al's regular guests find other broadcast venues soon.

My sadness over the loss of the show, however, is mitigated in no small measure by Al's candidacy for the United States Senate. Poor Norm Coleman. Click on the video above to get a sense of what the incumbent junior senior senator from Minnesota faces in 2008.

Al Franken is a classical liberal. He names the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, also from Minnesota, as his political hero. He makes no apologies for his belief in the proper progressive role of government in people's lives. He articulates his philosophy in clear, understandable terms. He gives examples from his life and the lives of his loved ones to illustrate why he holds those beliefs. He is the real thing.

Norm Coleman, on the other hand, is an empty suit. Where Al Franken has ideas, Coleman has nothing but the focus-tested GOP talking points that he used to win in 2002 following Wellstone's death in a plane crash. He embodies the worst qualities of the Bush-enabling GOP that quite deservedly lost its congressional majority last year. He will be the next one to lose his job. Good riddance.

Go, Al. I believe in you. I know that your fellow Minnesotans do, too. Just keep calling it as you see it. You're going to be the next United States senator from the Great State of Minnesota.