Tomorrow it will be a
month since I have seen Al Franken.
Make that since
anyone in
Minnesota has seen Franken. That was the day he proclaimed victory after the
Canvassing Board certified his 225-vote win. He
took no questions after his brief statement,
only to disappear behind the façade of his downtown Minneapolis townhome. Since
then we have been told he has been hanging out in Florida while the rest of us,
pardon my French, have been freezing our butts off.
If I sound bitter, I am. I would have like to be in
Florida too, Al. But instead, every day I have
swaddled kids in umpteen layers, hoping they will not lose any more gloves
because Target stops stocking winter clothes in mid-December.
(That is another blog post subject). And I have trudged off to work, where I (along
with the other reporters) pray each morning we will be sentenced to an inside
story (as opposed to one that needs to be shot in the subhuman cold).
I want to know, Al,
what you are thinking. Norm Coleman has been around attending the trial, giving
his opinions on anything people have asked him. I know because Coleman has
gotten quite a bit of flak over an interview he did with me on Sunday. But at
least he is out there, and I do think at this critical time people want to hear
from the person who could be our next senator.
After the Canvassing Board, I asked one of Franken's
loyal staffers if he could appear that Sunday on WCCO Sunday morning for a live
interview. The staffer replied, "I think we are going to be putting Al
back in the box for now." (I kid you not.) And so I plead with the Franken staff, FREE AL!
The Franken campaign gurus are apparently concerned
that it would be "presumptuous" of him to speak on issues when he is
short an election certificate. But is it not
presumptuous of him not to speak, not to meet with Minnesotans, not to be
available to the news media?
Signed,
UPDATE: The Franken Campaign
says Franken has been accessible, they say Franken sat down for interviews
with both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press in Washington D.C. a week and
a half ago.
