Al Franken, running against incumbent Norm Coleman in MN, is up with a new ad which I think is pretty effective. It's in response to Coleman's attack ad called "Crazy Porn", which uses Franken's former career as a comedian and against him, and accuses him of writing porn.
(I guess writing it is bad, but when Phil Gramm produces it, and Lynn Cheney writes it for lesbians it's ok?)
Transcript:
"Look, I'm not proud of every joke I've ever told. But I know there's a difference between what you say as a comedian and what you do as a U.S. Senator," Franken says. "Norm Coleman has supported George Bush's war in Iraq, and he's taken millions from Big Oil and special interests. Unfortunately, that's no joke."
Franken addresses the issue of off-color jokes without apologizing for then, and draws the distinction between what he said as a comedian and what he believes or would do as a Senator. Coleman has continued to use the assumption that voters can't see subtleties to try to attack Franken for his jokes. But I wonder if people will see Franken's line "I'm not proud of every joke I've ever told" as an apology or admission of guilt. To me it comes across as very direct and honest, and respectful of the voters' ability to distinguish between jokes and reality. I hope everyone sees it as I do.
As was discussed in a front page story yesterday,
A Rasmussen poll shows Al Franken and Norm Coleman deadlocked in Minnesota:
Coleman (R) 44 (42)
Franken (D) 43 (44)
Franken recently shook up his campaign staff, and has taken a harder edge against Coleman in recent ads. Coleman, for his part, has responded in kind with his latest ad, entitled "Crazy Porn", which alleges that Franken was responsible for, well, writing crazy porn.
Things are better for Franken then they were even a few weeks ago, but beating Norm Coleman is not going to be easy. It never was.
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