First we have Chairman Howard “Howlin'” Dean heading up the DNC.
Now, Al Franken is set to announce a run for the US Senate.
Sometimes you just have admire the way in which the Democratic Party can shoot itself in the foot so many times…
UPDATE: Franken has said that he will not run in 2006.
An Al Franken candidacy would be a disaster. It’s blows my mind why the Dems continue to believe that their least electable figures, like Hillary, should be at the front of the line. Then again, after Franken’s USO tour with halfwit country singer Darryl Worley, Franken should be given a Senate seat out of sympathy.
Seriously, I think the Dems best bet to hold onto Dayton’s seat would be Betty McCollum, unless they luck out and talk Alan Page or Judi Dutcher into running. McCollum represents St. Paul in the House, but also has a number of swing suburban areas in Ramsey and Washington Counties in her district, including precincts where she consistently wins even though they otherwise vote Republican. McCollum’s likely weakness would come from rural Minnesota, where Dayton would likely have performed well. On a non-Presidential election year where urban turnout is suppressed, the Democrats will need to hold their own in the rural areas, as Dayton did in 2000, to offset the GOP advantage in exurbia, where either Kennedy or Gutknecht would do blisteringly well. It should be an interesting dogfight provided the Dems don’t decide to end it quickly and pick Franken.