May
29 Franken's Playboy Problem

Some Minnesota politicos are worried that Al Franken's Senate race will hurt their chances at re-election.

The target of their concerns: "Porn-o-rama," a satirical piece that Franken wrote for Playboy in 2000, when he was still a comic and apparently before any political ambitions would have tempered his output.

The Politico quotes a Democratic source as saying "all five Democrats in the Minnesota Congressional delegation recently met and expressed serious concerns about Franken’s impact down-ballot on their Congressional campaigns."

And Rep. Betty McCollum went public with her concerns: "I’m a woman, I'm a mother, I'm a former teacher, and an elected official. This material makes me question the judgment of someone who would write this. And this person is now a candidate representing Minnesota."

According to ABC, in "Porn-o-rama," Franken wrote about visiting a made-up sex institute where he takes part in sexual acts with humans and machines. (I'd attempt to link to it here, but we're pretty sure we can't get behind our office's security wall).

Minnesota Republicans are making much of this, and last week asked for an apology from Franken.

What is a bit puzzling --- to use the buzzword of the last few days --- is that it took this much time to make it into the campaign, given that Franken has been running for more than a year. But it is entirely in keeping with many predictions, that Franken's humor would be used against him.