Alan Stuart "Al " Franken (born May 21, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, that state's affiliate of the Democratic Party. Franken first became famous as a writer and performer for the television show Saturday Night Live (SNL ) before moving on to writing and acting in several films. He then became a political commentator, author of several best-selling books, and host of a nationally syndicated radio show on Air America Radio. Franken ran for U.S. Senator in 2008 and narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Norm Coleman after a mandatory statewide manual recount. Coleman contested the outcome in court, [1] but conceded after the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009. [2] Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009.

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Early life

Franken was born in New York City to Phoebe G. Kunst, a homemaker and real estate agent, and Joseph P. Franken, a printing salesman, and grew up in St. Louis Park, a suburb near Minneapolis. ^{[3] [4]} Franken had a Jewish upbringing. ^[5] He is a cousin of MSNBC's Bob Franken, ^[6] and his older brother, Owen Franken, is a photojournalist. He graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated cum laude in 1973 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. ^[7]

Family

Franken met his wife Franni (née Bryson) in his first year of college. As of 2009, they have been married for over 32 years. They now reside in Minneapolis. ^[8]

The Frankens have two children: a daughter, Thomasin (born 1982), is a public elementary school teacher in the Bronx, with a degree from Harvard, and a son, Joe (born 1986), named after Al's father; Joe holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton.

Saturday Night Live

Franken had begun his performing career in high school at The Blake School, where he and longtime writing partner Tom Davis were known for their humor. Franken honed his writing and performing skills at Minneapolis' Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop theater, specializing in political satire. He and Davis soon found themselves in "a life of near-total failure on the fringes of show business in Los Angeles." ^[9]

Franken and Davis were recruited as two of the original writers (and occasional performers) on Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1985 to 1995, although in the latter case only Franken returned as a performer, while Davis usually stayed behind the camera.

In the first season, as apprentice writers, the two shared a salary of $350 per week. Franken received seven Emmy nominations and three Emmy Awards for his television writing and production. He created characters such as self-help guru Stuart Smalley and routines such as proclaiming the 1980s to be the "Al Franken Decade." Franken was associated with SNL for over 15 years and, in 2002, interviewed former Vice President Al Gore while in character as Smalley. Franken and Davis wrote the script to the 1986 comedy film One More Saturday Night, appearing in it as rock singers in a band called "Bad Mouth." They also appeared in cameo roles in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash as promoter Ron Decline's (John Belushi) henchmen, and in the Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd film Trading Places as the baggage handlers (with the gorilla) on the train.

Franken's most notorious SNL performance may have been "A Limo for the Lame-O," a commentary he delivered near the end of the 1979–80 season during a "Weekend Update" broadcast. Franken mocked controversial NBC president Fred Silverman as "a total unequivocal failure" and displayed a chart showing the poor ratings of NBC programs. Franken proclaimed that Silverman did not deserve a limousine. As a result of this sketch, Silverman nixed Lorne Michaels' request that Franken succeed him as SNL's head producer, prompting Franken to leave the show when Michaels did, at the end of the 1979–80 season. ^[10] Franken later returned to the series in 1985, mostly as a writer, but also as an occasional performer best-known for the Stuart Smalley character. He acknowledged using cocaine while working for Saturday Night Live , but says that he no longer uses any illegal drugs. ^[11] Franken left the show in 1995 in protest over losing the role of "Weekend Update" anchor to Norm Macdonald. ^[12]

Post-SNL

Franken is the author of five New York Times best-selling books, three of which reached #1, including Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations .

Fox News lawsuit

In 2003, Penguin Books published Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right , which included a cover photo of Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and a chapter accusing O'Reilly of lying. In August of that year, Fox News sued, claiming infringement of its registered trademark phrase "Fair and Balanced". A federal judge found the lawsuit to be "wholly without merit". The episode with Fox focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken's book and, according to Franken, greatly increased its sales. Reflecting on the lawsuit during a September 2003 interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air , Franken said that Fox's case against him was "literally laughed out of court" and added that the judge's comment that the case was "wholly without merit" was a good characterization of Fox News itself. ^{[13] [14]}

USO service

Franken has served as a volunteer with the United Service Organizations since he first visited Kosovo in 1999. Franken has conducted several overseas tours to both Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to participating in numerous celebrity handshake tours at military hospitals to visit wounded soldiers. On March 25, 2009, Franken was presented with the USO's Merit Award for his 10 years of service to the organization through visiting injured and deployed servicemembers. ^[15]

Radio show

Franken signed a one-year contract in early 2004 to become a talk show host for Air America Radio's flagship program with cohost Katherine Lanpher, who remained with the show until October 2005. The network was launched March 31, 2004. Originally named The O'Franken Factor but renamed The Al Franken Show on July 12, 2004, the show aired three hours a day, five days a week for three years. The stated goal of the show was to provide the public airwaves with more progressive views to counter what Franken perceived to be the dominance of conservative syndicated commentary on the radio. "I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected," he told a New York Times reporter in 2004. ^[16]

Franken is a Grateful Dead fan, and used their songs as bumper music on his radio show. Franken's last radio show on Air America Radio was on February 14, 2007. In the last segment of the show, Franken announced his candidacy for the United States Senate.

Other projects

Franken wrote the original screenplay and starred in the film Stuart Saves His Family , ^[17] which was panned by critics (receiving a rating of 29% on the website Rottentomatoes.com). He also cowrote the film When a Man Loves a Woman. He cocreated and starred in the NBC sitcom LateLine until it was canceled in its second season. He appeared in the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate .

In 2003, Franken served as a Fellow with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Since 2005, Franken has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post . His most recent book, The Truth (With Jokes), was released in 2005.

Political action

thumb According to an article by Richard Corliss published in Time , "In a way, Franken has been running for office since the late '70s." Corliss also hinted at Franken's "possibly ironic role as a relentless self-promoter" in proclaiming the 1980s "the Al Franken Decade" and saying, "Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did!" ^[18] In 1999, Franken released a parody book, Why Not Me?, detailing his campaign for the Presidency in 2000. He had been a strong supporter of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone and was strongly affected by the senator's death in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 Senate election. After the funeral, Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Ventura, and several other conservative commentators accused the organizers and participants of Wellstone's remembrance ceremony of using the tragedy for political purposes. Columnists Peggy Noonan and Chris Caldwell asserted that 20,000 people booed Trent Lott. Franken, who attended, denied there was widespread jeering: "Along with everyone else, I cried, I laughed, I cheered. It was, to my mind, a beautiful four-hour memorial. I didn't boo. Neither did 22,800 of the some 23,000 people there." ^[19] In Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them , Franken wrote that Noonan and Caldwell had later told him that they had not personally been at the memorial service. ^[20]

Franken said he learned that 21% of Americans received most of their news from talk radio, then an almost exclusively conservative medium. Said Franken, "I didn't want to sit on the sidelines, and I believed Air America could make a difference." In November 2003, Franken talked about moving to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate. The seat once held by Wellstone, then occupied by Republican Norm Coleman, was to be contested in the 2008 election. In 2005, Franken announced his move to Minnesota: "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run, but I'm doing the stuff I need to do in order to do it." ^[21] He said that he would run as a Democrat.

Franken's books express strong support for pro-choice views on abortion, stricter gun control laws, legalization of same-sex marriage, environmental protections, and a revamped, more progressive income tax system. In the postscript of The Truth (With Jokes) , Franken joked that if elected to the Senate, in the two-week window between the Senate's swearing in and the end of George W. Bush's term, he would push for a "quickie impeachment".

In late 2005, Franken started his own political action committee, called Midwest Values PAC. By early 2007, the PAC had raised more than US$1-million. ^{[22] [23]}

Franken was the subject of the 2006 documentary film Al Franken: God Spoke , which premiered in April 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It was released nationally on September 13 of that year. ^[24]

2008 U.S. Senate campaign

On January 29, 2007, Al Franken announced his departure from Air America Radio. ^[25] On the day of his final show, February 14, Franken formally announced that he would run for the United States Senate from Minnesota in 2008. ^{[26] [27]} Challenging him for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement was Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a professor, author, and activist. Other candidates were Mike Ciresi, a wealthy trial lawyer, and Jim Cohen, an attorney and human rights activist who had dropped out of the race earlier. ^{[28] [29]}

On April 13, 2007, Franken's campaign filed a campaign finance report. He raised US$1.35-million in the first quarter of 2007. The incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, raised US$1.53-million. ^[30] On July 8, 2007, the Franken campaign stated that it expected to announce that Franken had raised more money than Coleman during the second quarter of the year, taking in US$1.9-million to Coleman's US$1.6-million, ^{[31] [32]} although as of early July 2007, Coleman's US$3.8-million cash on hand exceeded Franken's US$2-million.

In late May 2008, the Minnesota Republican Party released a letter regarding an article Franken had written for Playboy magazine in 2000 entitled "Porn-O-Rama!" The letter, signed by six prominent GOP women, including a state senator and state representative, called on Franken to apologize for what they referred to as a "demeaning and degrading" article. ^[33] Several DFL leaders expressed personal and political discomfort with the article as well. ^[34] A Franken campaign spokesman responded that, "Al had a long career as a satirist. But he understands the difference between what you say as a satirist and what you do as a senator. And as a senator, Norm Coleman has disrespected the people of Minnesota by putting the Exxons and Halliburtons ahead of working families. And there’s nothing funny about that."

On June 7, 2008, Franken was endorsed at the DFL convention. In a July 2008 interview with CNN, Franken was endorsed by Ben Stein, the noted entertainer, speechwriter, lawyer and author who is known for his conservative views and generally supports Republican candidates. ^[35] Stein said of Franken, "He is my pal, and he is a really, really capable smart guy. I don't agree with all of his positions, but he is a very impressive guy, and I think he should be in the Senate."

On September 9, 2008, Franken won the Democratic primary for the Senate seat. ^[36]

During his campaign for the Senate, Franken was criticized for advising SNL creator Lorne Michaels on a political sketch ridiculing Senator John McCain's ads attacking Barack Obama. ^[37] Coleman's campaign reacted, saying, "Once again, he proves he's more interested in entertainment than service, and ridiculing those with whom he disagrees." ^[38]

Preliminary reports on election night had Coleman ahead by over 700 votes; but the official results certified on by November 18, 2008, had Coleman leading by only 215 votes. As the two candidates were separated by less than 0.5 percent, the Secretary of State of Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, authorized the automatic recount stipulated in Minnesota election law. In the recount, ballots and certifying materials were examined by hand, and candidates could file challenges to the legality of ballots or materials for inclusion or exclusion with regard to the recount. On January 5, 2009, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board certified the recounted vote totals, with Franken ahead by 225 votes. ^[39]

On January 6, 2009, Coleman's campaign filed an election contest, which led to a trial before a three-judge panel. ^[40] The trial ended on April 7, when the panel ruled that 351 of 387 disputed absentee ballots were incorrectly rejected and ordered them counted. Counting those ballots raised Franken's lead to 312 votes. Coleman appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court on April 20. ^{[41] [42]} On April 24, the Minnesota Supreme Court agree to hear the case. ^[43] and oral arguments were conducted on June 1. ^[44]

On June 30, 2009, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected Coleman's appeal and said that Franken was entitled to be certified as the winner. Shortly after the court's decision, Coleman conceded. ^[45] Governor Tim Pawlenty signed Franken’s election certificate that same evening. ^[46] Franken was sworn in to the Senate on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 using the Bible of late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. ^[47]

Tax issues

During the 2008 election, New York state officials asserted that Al Franken Inc. had failed to carry required workers' compensation insurance for employees who assisted him with his comedy and public speaking from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid the $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his corporation was out of compliance with the state's workers' compensation laws. ^{[48] [49]}

The California Franchise Tax Board reported that the same corporation owed more than $4,743.40 in taxes, fines, and associated penalties in the state of California for 2003 through 2007 because the corporation did not file tax returns in the state for those years. ^[50] A Franken representative said that it followed the advice of an accountant who believed when the corporation stopped doing business in California that no further filing was required. ^[51] However, Republicans say that Franken made 32 public appearances from 2003 to 2007, including two on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno taped in Burbank, California, for which Franken would have been paid the standard union fee as a member of the Screen Actors Guild. On April 29, 2008, Franken released a statement noting that he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003. Most of the income at issue was from Franken's speeches and other paid appearances. Franken said he got bad advice from his accountant, who had told him to pay income tax only in his state of residence. He added that he will seek retroactive credit from the states where he paid income tax that should have been paid in these 17 states. ^[52]

Views

Franken has been a vocal critic of the Iraq War, and opposed the 2007 troop surge. In an interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, ^[53] Franken said that he "believed Colin Powell", whose presentation at the United Nations convinced him that the war was necessary. However, since then he had come to believe that "we were misled into the war" and urged the Democratically-controlled Congress to refuse to pass appropriations bills to fund the war if they don't include timetables for leaving Iraq. In an interview with Josh Marshall, Franken said of the Democrats, "I think we've gotta make [Bush] say, 'OK, I'm cutting off funding because I won't agree to a timetable.'" ^[54]

Franken favors transitioning to a universal health care system, with the provision that every child in America should receive health care coverage, immediately. He has spoken in favor of protecting private pensions and Social Security. ^[55] He has also advocated cutting subsidies for oil companies, increasing money available for college students, and cutting interest rates on student loans. ^{[56] [57]}

U.S. Senate

thumb Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009, 246 days after the November 2008 election. ^{[58] [59]} He arrived as the most junior member of the Senate, 100th in seniority ranking. He is the fifth senator to be sworn in since the class of 2008 was sworn in January 2009. ^[60] He will sit at the same desk that Paul Wellstone used, which Senate leaders had kept open for Franken. ^[61] Since 1979 his Senate seat has been occupied by four different senators of the Jewish faith, with only short-lived appointee Dean Barkley being Christian. ^[62]

On August 6, 2009 Senator Franken was assigned to and presided over confirmation vote of Sonia Sotomayor to be Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court ^{[63] [64]}.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions ^[65]
• *Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
• *Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging
• Committee on the Judiciary
• * Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
• * Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
• * Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security
• Special Committee on Aging
• Committee on Indian Affairs

Bibliography

Books

• I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!: Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley (Dell Books, 1992) ISBN 0-440-50470-8
• Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations (Delacorte Press, 1996) ISBN 0-385-31474-4
• Why Not Me? (Delacorte Press, 1999) a parody-journal of the fictional “Franken campaign” for President ISBN 0-385-31809-X
• Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness (Plume Books, 2003) ISBN 0-452-28450-3
• Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (Dutton Books, 2003) ISBN 0-525-94764-7
• The Truth (With Jokes) (Dutton Books, 2005) ISBN 0-525-94906-2

CDs and compilations

• The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization, and High-Finance Fraudsters with Greg Palast (2004)
• The O'Franken Factor Factor — The Best of the O'Franken Factor
• The Al Franken Show Party Album

Filmography

• Tunnel Vision (1976)
• The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)
• Trading Places (1983)
• One More Saturday Night (1986)
• When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) (Writer) ^[66]
• Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
• From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
• Harvard Man (2001)
• Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable (2004) HBO documentary
• Tanner on Tanner (2004)
• Al Franken: God Spoke (2006)

Electoral history

|Minnesota court declares Franken winner; Coleman considers appeal}} }}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Margin of victory
Turnout

References

1. Coleman asks high court to look again at rejected votes
2. Coleman concedes Minnesota Senate race after court decision
3. Ancestry of Al Franken
4. Al Franken Biography (1951?-)
5. Beliefnet's interview with Al Franken, author of Lies & the Lying Liars about Bush, Hannity, O'Reilly and other conservatives
6. CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
7. Profile of Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota
8. Starring Al Franken (as Himself)
9. Hill, Doug and Weingrad, Jeff, ''Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live'' (Vintage Books, 1987) ISBN 0-394-75053-5.
10. Shales, Tom (2003). ''Live From New York'', p. 191. Back Bay Books.
11. Don't Laugh at Al Franken
12. Shales, pp. 433–444.
13. In Courtroom, Laughter at Fox and a Victory for Al Franken
14. Comedian and Political Commentator Al Franken
15. USO of Metropolitan Washington Salutes “Our Nation’s Heroes” at the USO-Metro Annual Awards Dinner
16. Al Franken, Seriously So - The
17. The Al Franken Show from Woolsey Hall
18. Vote for Me, Al Franken
19. Al Franken: Reflections on the Wellstone Memorial and the King Funeral
20. ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them'', pp. 202–209.
21. Senator Franken?
22. Title Unavailable
23. Title Unavailable
24. {{imdb title|id=0799916|title=Al Franken: God Spoke}}
25. {{dead link|date=July 2009}}
26. Franken enters Minn. Senate race
27. Al Franken Decides He's Good Enough, Smart Enough to Run for Senate
28. This page is available to GlobePlus subscribers
29. Ciresi in parting: Choose wisely
30. {{dead link|date=July 2009}}
31. Franken Raises Over $1.9 Million In Second Quarter
32. Franken leads the pack in second quarter fundraising
33. GOP Targets Al Franken's Playboy Column - ABC News
34. Franken's porn story has party in a lather
35. Preston on Politics: Bueller? Bueller? — McCain needs Rove
36. The Big Question » Blog Archive » It’s Franken in One
37. Franken helps craft McCain 'SNL' skit
38. Coleman hits Franken for SNL skit
39. Al Franken Certified Winner
40. Minnesota Senate Seat Election Contest
41. Al Franken is the winner of Minnesota Senate Race, court rules
42. Franken widens lead in Minnesota Senate recount
43. ORDER for briefing schedule
44. Minnesota Senate Seat ’08 Election
45. Franken wins Minn. Senate race; Coleman concedes
46. At last, a second senator for Minnesota
47. From satirist to senator
48. Franken's corporation didn't file tax returns in Calif....
49. Franken faces $25,000 workers' comp penalty
50. Friday: New round of financial questions dogs Franken
51. More furor over Franken's taxes
52. Comedian turned candidate Franken to pay $70K in back taxes
53. Transcript, "Scarborough Country", MSNBC, December 7, 2005.
54. Joshua Marshall, June 14, 2007
55. Al on the Issues
56. Higher Education
57. Gas Prices
58. Al Franken, The Newest U.S. Senator
59. And Here’s Senator Franken
60. Minnesota Lacks Senate Seniority
61. Emotional Franken vows to honor Wellstone
62. Primaries Uphold Minnesota’s Jewish Tradition
63. http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090807/pl_politico/25894
64. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/06/junior-sen-franken-presides-sotomayor-vote/
65. Franken was appointed to the committee effective July 15, 2009. He replaced Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who served on the committee in a temporary capacity until the commitee completed its work on health care reform legislation. Source: {{USCongRec|2009|S7543}}
66. When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
67. General Election Results
68. Signing Off on a 225 Vote Franken Lead (webcast of Canvassing Board Meeting)
69. Franken/Coleman Minnesota Senate recount news
70. Election Reporting