Al Franken

Al Franken defends Prism, says of leaks: "Nothing surprised me"

Keith Ellison says Congress knew "almost nothing" about Prism ahead of last week's leaks. But Al Franken says he wasn't at all surprised by The Guardian's string of reports about how the NSA monitors internet and telephone communications.SEE ALSO: Al Franken concerned about Obama's authority to kill ... More >>

Al Franken takes commanding early lead

The election is still 18 months away, but Al Franken already holds a commanding lead over all potential challengers, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey. If the election were to take place tomorrow, Franken would jaunt to an easy victory, according to these poll results. Partly because ... More >>

Franken already has $2 million to take on his TBD opponent

After his famously close 2008 victory, Al Franken is well on his way to a much easier race in 2014.See Also: - Al Franken already wants you to open your pocketbook for his 2014 re-election campaign - Norm Coleman isn't interested in Al Franken rematch, praises Franken's approach - Minnesota Republic ... More >>

Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken vote in favor of semiautomatic rifle ban

Though Al Franken seemed a bit conflicted about the issue in January, both he and Amy Klobuchar joined the rest of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday to vote in favor of a gun control proposal that would ban some semiautomatic rifles and limit magazine sizes.SEE ALSO:-- More M ... More >>

Al Franken already wants you to open your pocketbook for his 2014 reelection campaign

There really is no political offseason anymore.SEE ALSO: Al Franken concerned about Obama's authority to kill Americans deemed to be terrorists Just over three months removed from our last regularly scheduled election, Al Franken is already asking you to kick in some dough for his 2014 reelection ca ... More >>

Norm Coleman isn't interested in Al Franken rematch, praises Franken's approach

Norm Coleman may be the most popular Republican in Minnesota, but he apparently doesn't think he's popular enough to take down Al Franken.SEE ALSO: Norm Coleman praises Obama gun control speech that didn't use the word "guns" It looks like those hoping for a rematch of the ridiculously close and con ... More >>

Al Franken didn't want to talk gun control on Friday; Betty McCollum did

In the wake of a tragedy, when is it appropriate to start talking about its political implications?SEE ALSO:-- Betty McCollum speaks out on Arizona shootings [VIDEO]-- Al Franken doesn't want mobile app companies to sell your location data without permission Unfortunately, that's a question electe ... More >>

Al Franken doesn't want mobile app companies to sell your location data without permission

Al Franken's Location Privacy Protection Act won approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, meaning the bill moves to the full Senate for debate.SEE ALSO:-- For Franken and Klobuchar, does money from big media mean support for PIPA?-- Al Franken cries on Senate floor [VIDEO]"The bill wo ... More >>

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Al Franken cries on Senate floor [VIDEO]

Al Franken got emotional on the Senate floor today while speaking on behalf of reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.Franken broke down while recalling the late Sheila Wellstone's vision of an America where women who are fleeing domestic violence don't have to worry about becoming homeless. ... More >>

Klobuchar, Franken aim to crack down on oil speculation

​Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are sponsoring legislation aimed at reigning in oil speculators. The average price of gas in Minnesota around $3.73, and similar pump pain being felt throughout the country, there's pressure on lawmakers to do something, anything, to bring prices down.A group of liber ... More >>

Poll: Klobuchar "close to unbeatable," Franken solid

​Apparently the PIPA debacle hasn't significantly hurt the political fortunes of Al Franken or Amy Klobuchar.A new Public Policy Polling poll conducted over last weekend concludes that Klobuchar will be very tough to beat this year. Franken's favorable numbers, while weaker than Klobuchar's, indic ... More >>

Garden of Truth report chronicles histories of abuse among Native American prostitutes

Al Franken wants to update the Violence Against Women Act specifically to fit Native American women's needs.​The Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition released a report today aggregating the stories of Native American women from around the state involved in prostitution. Titled "Gard ... More >>

Al Franken questions Google's internet search monopoly

Al Franken asked questions that Google CEO Eric Schmidt can't answer.​Al Franken loves Google. He just doesn't trust it. That's what came out at yesterday's contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, which saw Google's CEO Eric Schmidt squirming a bit under the hot light of government oversi ... More >>

Al Franken: "Unwillingness to compromise" might kill Obama's jobs bill

Al Franken says Obama's jobs plan can't survive political wrangling.​Al Franken watched the debate to raise the debt ceiling drag on -- and on, and on -- over party politics. Franken doesn't want to see the same thing happen with Barack Obama's new jobs plan, but he fears it might anyway.America's ... More >>

Al Franken joins "It Gets Better" video campaign

Franken and 12 other senators joined Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" campaign.​ Al Franken has a solid record as a supporter of gay rights, from his vocal support of gay marriage to voting for and sometimes authoring GLBT-friendly legislation. Now Franken has joined 12 other U.S. Senators in re ... More >>

Al Franken and Rand Paul: The New Odd Couple

Franken and Paul.​We thought it was pretty funny when we heard that liberal warrior Sen. Al Franken was going to serve as mentor for freshly-minted Kentucky tea party Sen. Rand Paul. The relationship had all the makings of The Odd Couple, with Franken in the role of Felix, all buttoned down, ... More >>

Apple cuts back iPhone tracking after Al Franken bites

Al Franken wants a word or two with Steve Jobs​Sen. Al Franken appears to have taken a bite out of Apple. Stung by bad PR, angry customers and the promise of Senate hearings chaired by Franken, the computer maker says it has released an update to iPhones to cut back on the amount of time the ... More >>

Steve Jobs will testify in Al Franken's hearings on iPhone tracking

Jobs says his iPhones aren't tracking anyone.​It sounds like Apple CEO Steve Jobs has agreed to testify before Sen. Al Franken's subcommittee on privacy and technology, following an uproar over stories that iPhones and iPads were tracking the location of their users and storing the data, appar ... More >>

Al Franken wants Apple and Google to testify about smartphone tracking

Al Franken wants Apple, Google at privacy hearings.​Sen. Al Franken is wading ever deeper into the controversy over whether smartphones are secretly tracking their user's locations. As chairman of the Privacy, Technology and the Law Subcommittee, he's calling on Apple and Google representati ... More >>

Will Al Franken take on Android too?

Steve Jobs, the object of Al Franken's ire.​We took note yesterday that Sen. Al Franken has fired off a nastygram to Apple boss Steve Jobs over published reports that iPhones and iPads were tracking and storing the movements of their users for some purpose yet to be revealed. Now we're wonder ... More >>

David Petraeus wants to know if Al Franken was brainwashed

Petraeus: Serious about an investigation.​Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Afghanistan, has ordered an investigation over a report last week that alleges a military psy-ops team tried to play mind tricks on visiting U.S. lawmakers -- including Sen. Al Franken. The goal, acco ... More >>

Al Franken reportedly targeted by U.S. Army psy-ops to boost funding

franken.senate.govAl Franken with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Sen. Carl Levin in Kabul, January 2010.​A U.S. Army officer appears to have mistaken U.S. lawmakers for the real enemy in Afghanistan. Sen. Al Franken was among a group of Senate and House members who were reportedly the targ ... More >>

Al Franken will mentor Rand Paul

Al Franken will be Rand Paul's Democratic mentor.​Right-wingers concerned about their favored politicians drinking the Capitol Hill Kool-Aid instead of the tea must be gagging over this news: Freshman GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky wants our very own liberal firebrand Al Franken to be his Democrat ... More >>

Al Franken rips into FCC approval of Comcast-NBC merger

Al Franken loses the Comcast-NBC merger fight.​The Comcast-NBC Universal merger got an official green light today from the Federal Communications Commission, paving the way on a 4-1 vote for another major consolidation in the telecom industry. It's a merger that Al Franken has battled from th ... More >>

Al Franken: Net neutrality rules permit political censorship [UPDATE]

Franken: Keep it neutral.​The compromise net neutrality rules just adopted by the FCC would prohibit broadband providers like Comcast and Qwest from blocking user access to websites and applications. But the measure won't do the same thing for wireless companies, and Al Franken smells censor ... More >>

Bob Dylan is this year's version of the Lizard People [VIDEO]

Blowin' in the recount.​Remember the Lizard People, the mysterious write-in candidates who added one more layer of weirdness to the Al Franken-Norm Coleman Senate race recount battle in 2008? Thanks to the ever vigilant folks at The UpTake, we have a worthy successor: Bob Dylan. Hibbing's fa ... More >>

Al Franken's doodle framed on Capitol Hill

Al Franken can doodle with the best of 'em.​We all had a good chuckle at Al Franken's expense when he tried to keep himself awake during those boring Elena Kagan Supreme Court hearings by sketching. Well, his likeness of Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions is now framed and decorating Sessions' office o ... More >>

Mark Ritchie wins re-election so he can run another recount

Time for a recount re-match.​The Republicans couldn't beat Al Franken in the 2008 U.S. Senate election that stretched into the 2009 recount, and they've been after Secretary of State Mark Ritchie ever since. He ran a biased and incompetent recount, they insisted. He gave us "felons for Frank ... More >>

"Please ID Me" buttons not OK at polls

Image by dbaird"Please ID Me" buttons aren't allowed here​Today a federal judge told tea partiers NO, they may not wear "Please I.D. Me" buttons to the polls. So if someone asks to see your photo ID, just give 'em the hand. And if they take your picture, take one right back. Minnesota election la ... More >>

Al Franken goofs in the Senate again

Franken likes to keep things light​Al Franken got into blooper territory while presiding over the Senate yesterday. First, he blasted classical music over the speakers. Then he yelled "Oh God!" when he mixed up some states. Gotta love the comic relief on a boring day. Franken's gaffe: He was sitt ... More >>

Al Franken near tears after GOP halts Don't Ask Don't Tell debate [VIDEO]

Al Franken on the Senate floor​Sen. Al Franken has done seven USO tours to military bases in war zones since 1999. For almost as long, he's been mocking the military's anti-gay Don't Ask Don't Tell policy from the stage, getting big laughs from the troops. But he almost broke into tears on th ... More >>

Al Franken will rescue net neutrality after he deals with his in-laws

Al Franken doesn't want to tick off the in-laws​For months now, Sen. Al Franken has used every available microphone to warn about the dire future of net neutrality: The principle that demands no Internet Service Providers or governments be allowed to tamper with the content, access, speed and ... More >>

Al Franken finds a hole in his condo window

Image via WikipediaIs Al Franken under attack?​Writing a headline over a story about what might be a hole shot in the window of Al Franken's downtown Minneapolis condo is tricky business. After all, we've had more than 30 homicides in Minneapolis this year, and a lot more shootings to boot. If ... More >>

Al Franken mocks Islamophobes opposing Cordoba House

Al Franken warns Republicans about Muslim point guards on the basketball court.​Sen. Al Franken, fresh off a BB gun attack on his condo, took some time out yesterday from the rubber chicken circuit in Illinois to mock the Islamophobes making political hay over a Muslim community center planned ... More >>

Al Franken gavels Elena Kagan's Supreme Court vote to a close

Image Via YouTubeAl Franken does the honors during Elena Kagan's Senate confirmation vote.​Solicitor General Elena Kagan was confirmed for the Supreme Court this afternoon and Minnesota freshman Sen. Al Franken gaveled the vote to a close by declaring "the nomination is confirmed." The vote wa ... More >>

Michele Bachmann, Tarryl Clark and Al Franken converge on Sin City

Photo: David SalafiaMinnesota pols hope that what they say in Vegas will travel far and wide​What happens in Vegas with Michele Bachmann, Tarryl Clark and Al Franken will almost certainly not stay in Vegas, and that's the way they want it. Bachmann's slated as an attention grabber for the Rig ... More >>

Tim Pawlenty rates felons a natural Al Franken constituency

​We don't know if how many convicted felons actually, really and truly voted illegally and flipped the 2008 U.S. Senate race for Democrat Al Franken. And frankly, we're a little skeptical about taking a Republican pressure group's "research" at face value over the matter. Not so Tim Pawlenty. ... More >>

Newsweek takes Al Franken seriously

Image via FacebookA serious constitutionalist, or "the knee-jerk liberal everyone thought he would be?"​Al Franken's doodling and dozing at Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings last week created some web buzz and the usual criticisms of Senator Smalley. But when it came time for F ... More >>

Al Franken doodles as Elena Kagan testifies

Screen grab via YouTubeFranken took some interesting notes as Elena Kagan testified​He's a cut up, a brawler and a napper. And it turns out Sen. Al Franken is also a pretty good doodler. Waiting his turn to question Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan before the Senate Judiciary Committee yeste ... More >>

Al Franken takes apart right wing Supreme Court [VIDEO]

Franken is going to bat for Kagan​The U.S. Supreme Court has become a safe haven for the rich and powerful as part of a careful conservative campaign, and a dead end for regular folks with grievances, Sen. Al Franken said on the Senate floor yesterday (video after the jump). He invoked the ca ... More >>

Jess McIntosh leaves Al Franken's office for EMILY'S List post

Photo: Aaron Landry/FlickrJess McIntosh and Al Franken​Sen. Al Franken has now lost a key staffer at his Capitol Hill offices. Jess McIntosh, his spokeswoman for three years, says she's moving on to deputy communications director with EMILY'S List, a national Democratic abortion rights group. ... More >>

Al Franken aims to outlaw bullying of GLBT students in school

Franken says GLBT students deserve the same protections as anyone else​It ought to be illegal to bully a school student based on sexuality. That's the the gist of legislation introduced today by Sen. Al Franken. "Our nation's civil rights laws protect our children from bullying due to race, ... More >>

Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken back Elena Kagan for Supreme Court

Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken ​U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken voiced strong support this morning for President Barack Obama's nomination this morning of Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the next justice for the U.S. Supreme Court. Both senators sit on the judiciary committee, wh ... More >>

Conan O'Brien joins Al Franken's rubber chicken circuit

Coco's bringing serious funny for a funny senator​It's another sign that once oh-so-serious Sen. Al Franken is lightening up: Conan O'Brien has been booked for an invitation-only Franken fundraiser on May 17 at the Mount Curve Avenue home of Gloria Finley and Robert Levine. The following nigh ... More >>

Al Franken tells Jason Mattera to "shut up right now" about monkey bars

Conservative activist Jason Mattera tries to sandbag Sen. Al Franken, insisting that there's "$7 billion to fund jungle gyms" in the health car bill. Franken tells him he has to "shut up right now." And that line about $7 billion for monkey bars? Mattera's spouting fiction.

Al Franken's lightening up, Washington Post says; doggone it senators like him better

Fits of pique reinforced Franken's image as a champion of the liberal left, but now he plays squash with Republicans.

Al Franken thinks he's good enough, he's smart enough, and doggone it, he's respected

Al Franken grants Roll Call his first major interview with a national publication.

Al Franken uses conflict with NBC/Comcast execs to help raise cash

Ironically, Comcast donated $5,000 to Franken's recount fund, helping to propel him into the Senate.

Al Franken, reproductive rights, and a debate that goes nowhere

This is not news: Both sides of the abortion debate are dug in tighter than a stubborn mule. Here's a perfect example.