This Election Is Too Important

Chris Truscott wrote an excellent post a month back, and we thought we should look at it again. Chris Truscott: "With So Much on the Line, It’s Time for Franken to Go."

"On Sunday an American was killed in Iraq when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle.

Last night about 200,000 veterans went to sleep wherever they could find a place—in their cars, on benches, under bridges, in temporary shelters—because after serving their country honorably they returned to the United States of America and lost everything they had, including their homes.

Today 7.6 million people are out of work; 47 million people worry about getting sick because they don’t have health insurance; and 37 million Americans are living in poverty.

We need a senator with the courage to address these problems, to stand up at this defining hour and say 'enough is enough,' and to take on the special interests that will fight progress at every step of the way.

Norm Coleman is not that man. When the chips are down, Coleman will stand for the status quo, he’ll say 'more of the same,' and he’ll do the bidding of the special interests that fund his campaigns and pay for his travel. We know this because it’s the story of his tenure in Washington.

Unfortunately, however, each day we move one step closer to a fall election in which Coleman’s abject failure to deliver for our state and country takes a back seat to a fatally flawed DFL candidate—Al Franken.

But we don’t have to blindly walk off a cliff. We have choices. There is a way out. And there are others who see it:

'Heck,' wrote Hal Kimball of Blue Man in a Red District. 'If Al Franken really wants to see Norm Coleman defeated and Paul Wellstone’s seat back in the hands of a Democrat, he’ll step aside and help a suitable replacement.'

Hal is right and it’s about time people move beyond the warm feelings they have for Franken the political bomb thrower and replace them with serious reflection on what a Franken candidacy could mean for our cause.

Franken isn’t a bad man and he stands on the right side of the great challenges of our time, but the reality is he carries so much baggage into the fall campaign that he becomes the story in a media environment driven more by cheap, ratings-grabbing scandals than substantive coverage of the issues facing Americans.

The self-inflicted headlines about Franken's tax payments, workers’ compensation problems and vulgar humor scream louder than Page 3 stories about the war, economic duress and domestic turmoil. Sure, it’s a sad commentary on the state of our media—and perhaps our democracy—but it’s the gauntlet we must navigate to make the kind of change our country needs.

We have a great chance to retire Coleman to a K Street lobbying firm, but we’re not going to win by giving Republicans the race they want. We have to run on our terms—on the positions Coleman can’t defend, the record he can’t brag about, his legacy of utter incompetence and complete indifference.

It’s time for Franken to step aside so we can devote our efforts this fall to relentlessly challenging Coleman, rather than the futile endeavor of attempting to explain away Franken’s known problems and, even more ominously, his missteps yet to come."

The comment section of the post was filled with discussion of Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. However, as much as we like Jack, he simply isn't electable. Republicans would paint him as too far left, too far out of the mainstream to be our Senator.

Since this post was written, has the election been focused on Coleman? No. Has the election been focused on Franken? Yes. How has this affected the DFL's chances? Well, the last two polls put Franken at least 10 points behind, and in serious trouble with crucial Independent voters. If nothing changes, the DFL will lose this election.

Mike Ciresi is the only Democrat who can salvage this election for the DFL. If Ciresi is the main candidate, there will be no inappropriate stories that surface, no legal problems whatsoever, no colorful remarks, and no question of his dedication to the state of Minnesota. The election would actually be focused on the war, on veterans, on health insurance, on poverty, and on Norm Coleman's friendly dealings. The election would be focused on all the areas that Norm Coleman and President Bush have failed us so greatly. That is an election we can win.