Run, Stuart, Run!

Congratulations to Al Franken for entering the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota for the right to run against Repug incumbent Norm Coleman. I’m sure Franken has done his homework, especially since he moved the location from which he airs his soon-to-be-ending program on “Air America” from New York to Minneapolis.

The problem is that I can see the Repugs perpetually trying to press hot buttons on him to get a rise, and that’s a challenge he’ll have to answer carefully (though I trust him to know when to do battle and when to say screw it and walk away).

Coleman, I should point out, has reformed himself somewhat for appearances sake (trying to distance himself from Dubya on Iraq a la Mike Fitzpatrick, for example), but never doubt that he is still a Repug through and through. However, I don’t think we’re going to be hearing him yap about how the U.N. is solely responsible for the Iraq “oil for food” scandal or how he’s “a 99 percent improvement over his predecessor” (the great Paul Wellstone, who was unable to defend himself against this scurrilous quote on account of the fact that he was dead).

I expect Franken to run a witty and erudite campaign, and that may be the problem, actually. If he can’t hold his own in photo ops such as a cow-milking contest of master the nuances of governmental rules and regulations of his home state and convey that he could be an effective advocate on the issues, then all of his cleverness and entertainment value won’t mean a thing.

But I have faith in him. He’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and doggone it…

Oh, never mind.