Should Al Franken run for the MN Senate again?

[DFW]

39. Don't hold your breath

Al still harbors a bitterness against his Democratic colleagues who threw him under the bus (and don’t you dare get Franni started!!). The whole set of allegations against him at the time was engineered by Trump’s pal, Roger Stone. The various women who conveniently “came forward” with exquisite timing immediately again disappeared after he resigned. One would have to go back to reports from December, 2017, to even find their names and allegations. This, of course, excludes Leeann Tweeden, who freely admitted she was part of the set-up.

Some of Al’s then-colleagues have apologized for being too quick to trash him (among them: Sheldon Whitehouse of RI, Jon Tester of MT, Bill Nelson of FL). Most have not. I did harbor a totally irrational resentment of Tina Smith for replacing him, but after meeting her, I came to my senses, and realized that she had nothing to do with what happened to Al.

Al still runs hot and cold about running for something, but he would not mount a primary challenge against either Minnesota Senator currently serving. Other possible positions just don’t interest him nearly as much, and anyone who has been around the United States Senate for any length of time would understand why. He still to this day has mixed feelings about whether he would even want to again serve alongside former colleagues who unjustly trashed him and never apologized.

At the time of Stone’s cleverly orchestrated scam in late 2017, we had several “one issue” posters on DU who showed up just to trash Al, and then faded when the issue was no longer current, though one seems to be back under another name. None of them knew Al or had even met him and/or Franni (they are still devoted, and no, Al has no such issues as described in any of the allegations). They didn’t even have mutual acquaintances. And yet someone who suddenly “came forward” with what sounded like coached dialog had greater credibility with said posters? Chacun à son goût, of course, but fortunately it wasn’t the goût of the vast majority of DU, or I would no longer have been here these past 7+ years.

Al was definitely a major thorn in Trump’s side in 2017, and Stone publicly announced in advance that he was planning something against Al. It was a dark moment for Senate Democrats when it turned out to be successful. I can well imagine that Stone was as surprised as anyone that his scheme actually worked. Had the Senate Democrats had Al’s back, he never would have left. I know, I know, Doug Jones, but still…

With his podcasts, live shows, etc., Al is keeping busy, but he never completely lost the shell shock from the betrayal by so many of his Senate colleagues, even though he misses what fellow Minnesotan Fritz Mondale called “the best job in the world.” He also sees the clock ticking as well as anyone else, and has (more or less) come to terms with seeing younger people step in. Still, it’s always easier to tell someone else to do that than to do it yourself.