Al Franken

MPR Photo/Mark Zdechlik

Election Coverage from MPR

Franken meets with Senate majority leader

Senate candidate Al Franken has met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to brief him on the recount in Minnesota. (11/19/2008)

Recount begins at county level

Election officials throughout Minnesota have begun recounting nearly three million ballots to determine who won the U.S. Senate race. (11/19/2008)

Canvassing Board to make decision on rejected absentee ballots

The State Canvassing Board is expected to order a recount in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race when it meets today Tuesday in St. Paul. Democrat Al Franken's campaign will also make a last ditch plea that the board examine rejected absentee ballots before certifying the race results. (11/18/2008)

Franken to visit D.C., meet with Senate leaders

Democrat Al Franken says he'll be in Washington, D.C., this week to meet with Democratic Senate leaders. (11/16/2008)

Minn. board may act on voided absentee ballots

The head of a key board in Minnesota's unsettled Senate election says the panel might hear a dispute over whether to reconsider some rejected absentee ballots. (11/14/2008)

Secretary of State's office outlines rules for Senate recount

The Minnesota Secretary of State's office is giving election officials across the state some direction on how to conduct next week's recount in the U.S. Senate race. (11/14/2008)

Franken campaign's rejected ballot story false

The story an attorney for Democrat Al Franken's U.S. Senate campaign told reporters in order to illustrate claims that valid absentee ballots were wrongly rejected, turns out to be false. (11/13/2008)

Judge throws out Coleman ad complaint

A judge has dismissed a legal complaint filed by Sen. Norm Coleman against his Democratic opponent, Al Franken, over a claim in a Franken TV commercial. (11/13/2008)

Key panel named in Minn. Senate recount

The jury that will rule on disputed ballots in the Minnesota Senate recount includes the Democratic secretary of state, two Supreme Court justices appointed by a Republican governor and two district judges whose politics are harder to gauge. (11/12/2008)

Kids also voted, and they favored Obama, Franken

President-elect Barack Obama didn't just win Minnesota's electoral votes last week; he also won the kids' vote. (11/12/2008)

Candidate snapshot

Party: DFL

Biography

Date of Birth: 05/21/1951

Place of Birth: New York, N.Y.

Education: BA, General Studies, Harvard University, 1973

Positions Held: Founder, Midwest Values PAC

Business/Professional Experience: Host, The O'Franken Factor, Air America Radio, 2004 -2006; Served as a Fellow with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, 2003; Writer, Saturday Night Live, 1973-1980, 1985-1995

Religion: Jewish

Resources

Official campaign site

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