MN-Sen, Q2: Al's $1.9 million vs. Norm's $1.5 million. The Franken campaign can speak for itself:
The Al Franken for Senate campaign announced today that it expected to report having raised over $1.9 million in the second quarter of 2007 when it files its quarterly report with the FEC on July 15.
The money was raised from nearly 28,000 donors. So far in 2007, over 36,000 donors have contributed a grand total of over $3.2 million. The campaign is particularly pleased to note that over 95% of contributions in the second quarter were $100 or less.
In addition, Al's average donation was $65.10 ... while Coleman's stats aren't quite as people-powered (according to Al, Norm has raised "$650,000 since 2002 from pharmaceutical companies"). Furthermore, Al has done this while traveling all over the great state of Minnesota, from St. Paul to Duluth to Bemidji, where he picked up a few sweet endorsements.
I think it's pretty clear from my diary entries and my ActBlue Page that I'm a big Franken fan, and one of the guys on Al Franken's "Wall Of People Who Gave Money To Help Us Open This Office."
I have my own opinions, and while I think Al is going to be a transformative voice for the Democratic Party, Minnesota, and America, and in spite of the fact that I think you should help Al get up to $2 million cash-on-hand ... it's only fair to tell you about the other good Democrats running for MN-Sen, especially since I'm including a poll at the end:
Mike Ciresi, who raised an impressive $725K in Q2:
A name partner and Chairman of the Executive Board of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P., Mike has been instrumental in the growth and diversity of the firm’s practice. The firm, with its principal office in Minneapolis, is internationally recognized for its expertise in litigation. Mike’s trial practice and consulting is focused in the areas of product liability, intellectual property, business and commercial litigation.
In his work on behalf of the state of Minnesota and its citizens against big tobacco, Mike’s been working for regular Minnesota families and real Minnesota values for most of his career. Now he wants to continue the fight in Washington for Minnesota families and Minnesota values.
In 1998 the Minnesota Trial Lawyers Association gave Mike their "Lifetime Achievement Award." Over the last ten years, Mike has been recognized by Minnesota Law & Politics as Lawyer of the Year, and received The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Foundation’s "Trial Lawyer of the Year Award" (1998). He has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1989.
Mike’s more visible cases include the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota v. Phillip Morris Incorporated, et al., Honeywell vs. Minolta, and the Dalkon Shield litigation, Copper-7. The Honeywell litigation involved actions against the entire camera industry for infringement of a Honeywell patent. Mike is one of 289 lawyers listed in The International Who’s Who of Patent Lawyers 2005.
Mike is one of the few lawyers who has been recognized on two occasions in the National Law Journal’s annual list of Ten of the Nation’s Top Trial Lawyers, and in 1997, 2000 and 2006 was named by the Journal as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.
In 2000, he was a candidate for the United States Senate in Minnesota. Mike serves on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, the University of St. Thomas, as the Board of Governors of the University of St. Thomas School of Law. He currently serves on the board of Regions Hospital Foundation and Minnesota Early Learning Foundation. He recently completed terms on the Boards of Directors for Equal Justice Works, The Guthrie Theater and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.
Jim Cohen, who calls himself a "pragmatic progressive":
Jim Cohen has been a national environmental leader, human rights attorney, consumer advocate, U.S. Congressional nominee, grassroots organizer, teacher and voice for the disenfranchised. During nearly forty years of public service Jim Cohen has created environmental organizations with over 60,000 members, protected consumers as a senior official at the Federal Trade Commission, and has gone to court to fight for the rights of American Indians, working class immigrants and many under-represented citizens.
Yet Jim has also been on the front lines with rank and file political activists, helping with phone banks, door to door canvassing and fundraising events for numerous DFL candidates in Minnesota.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer:
"You don’t know Jack." That’s what people encouraging me to seek the DFL endorsement for the U.S. Senate tell others who seem to be despairing or cynical about politics. I offer practical proposals to responsibly bring the troops home, support returning veterans, and aid the reconstruction of Iraq. I have a positive vision promoting U.S. and global security through international partnerships to solve pressing problems. I describe how we can improve the quality of our lives while taking steps to heal the earth and address climate change. I am committed to a citizen-based politics that builds on the energy, knowledge, and creativity of Minnesota citizens and groups working for positive change.
I’m from Minnesota and have lived and worked here most of my life. I’ve addressed issues of peace, economic justice, environmental sustainability, and the need for more enlightened foreign policies for thirty years. I’ve given many hundreds of public talks in communities and churches around the state and country, written a dozen books, run for Congress in the 5th Congressional District in 2006, and taught courses on these issues at several area colleges. I have been teaching for more than a decade at the University of St. Thomas where I am an Associate Professor of Justice and Peace Studies.
Bob Olson:
Bob Olson was born on December 17, 1945 in North Branch, Minnesota. Bob grew up in a loving home that included two parents, a twin brother and an older sister.
Bob graduated in 1967 from Bethel College with a major in psychology and minors in history and philosophy. In college Bob usually worked 20 to 30 hours a week while attending classes, as well as full-time during the summers to earn his way through college.
...
It was in 1970 when Bob found that his values and passion for service could be put to good use by engagement in politics. His political volunteerism began on Bob North's race for Mayor of St. Paul and Wendy Anderson's first campaign for Governor of Minnesota. Through the decades, Bob has volunteered on numerous DFL campaigns, served on the DFL State Central Committee and, in 1994, was the DFL Endorsed Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District.
Bob continues to practice law in Downtown Minneapolis; is the owner and Chairman of St. Stephen State Bank with branches in St. Cloud, St. Stephen, and Sauk Rapids; is the owner of Northern Pension Corporation; and is founder of the American Sustainable Energy Council, a nonprofit corporation that focuses on alternative energy policy for America.
For years Bob has had a passion for service. Whether coaching youth football, teaching lawyers, accountants, or business owners, or advocating for sound alternative and sustainable energy, Bob puts his service to good use.
Now, Bob is concentrating this commitment as a candidate for the United States Senate in a campaign that focuses on a New Deal for a New Economy, on sound energy policy that will free America from its dependence on foreign oil, on fair share taxation that will treat the middle class fairly, and on universal health care for the 46 million Americans – 400,000 Minnesotans – who are currently uninsured.
With all the good candidates in this race, I wish we could get someone to run in my home state. Until then ...
ActBlue for Franken
Al Franken for Senate
MN-Sen Race Tracker Wiki
Coleman's Numbers