I love the lede in this story about the word of rumors of a possibility of Al Franken’s long-awaited (hahaha) announcement  of his impending candidacy:

Comedian and national radio commentator Al Franken will run for the U.S. Senate in 2008, according to a source with Minnesotas Democratic congressional delegation.

“Comedian and talk show host”?

Uh, yeah.  And now, bar-band guitarist and English major Mitch Berg will respond.

Franken told a Democratic congressman days ago that he intends to run for the seat now held by Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, a high-ranking staffer of the delegation member confirmed Wednesday.

The staffer declined to be identified or directly quoted for fear of ruining the relationship between the congressman and Franken.

Riiiiiight.

Additionally, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Franken also told her of his intentions. That official, who did not want to be identified because Franken has not made an announcement, said the discussion was recent.

For the moment, at least, those close to Franken officially are remaining mum.

No, those close to Franken are doing his bidding, firing off semi-official trial balloons to a compliant, nudging-and-winking local media that is already at least partly in the bag for him.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 7:05 am and is filed under Campaign '08, Democrat Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.