MN: Should Franken be funnier?
8:58 AM
The New Republic's Eve Fairbanks thinks so after seeing the Franken response to opponent Norm Coleman's TV ad that poked fun at some of Franken's past writings.
The weird thing in the Minnesota Senate race lately, though, has been Franken's way of defending himself: not by using humor but by turning deadly serious, even dour. If you'd just been dropped into Minneapolis from the deep Amazon, you'd think Coleman was the one with the sense of humor (a nauseatingly corny one, but still) and Franken was the uptight pol who couldn't take a joke. ... I tend to think gimmick/celebrity candidates too often err on the safe side, leading them to inadvertently reject the very rationales for their candidacies.Read the full TNR blog post
Read newspaper coverage of the two ads:
- Coleman ad addresses Franken's personal issues
- Franken urges 'real debate' in response to ad
