Doug Grow of MinnPost.com is today reporting on the DFL endorsement for US Senate. (DFL = Democratic Farmer-Labor party, for you non-Minnesotans out there. This is the party formed by Hubert Humphrey in 1944 from the joining of the Democratic party and the farther-left Farmer-Labor party.)
From sources within all campaigns, Grow says that author and satirist Al Franken leads the race for the DFL endorsement, with Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer second and Mike Ciresi third.
Mike Ceresi spent (reportedly) millions of his own money on this campaign, including a significant media ad buy prior to the February 5 caucuses. Ciresi is a lawyer who made buku megabucks as one of the chief legal eagles who sued (and beat) the tobacco companies for misrepresenting the health effects of cigarettes. This is his second run for Senate, having lost the DFL endorsement to Amy Kloubuchar two years ago Mark Dayton in 2000.
Al Franken is the former Saturday Night Live writer and occasional skitster, founder of Air America, and author of six satirical books with titles like "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, and other observations," and "Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them: a Fair and Balanced look at the Right." Al has been a frequent fundraiser for local DFL candidates over the past few years, and has picked up a ton of endorsements from local elected officials in return. He also put up an impressive ad buy before the caucuses, and has raised the most money.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer has run his shoestring campaign mostly by word of mouth and free media exposure, principally on Minnesota Public Radio. He's basing his campaign on his early and consistent opposition to the Iraq War.
It's gotta be a major downer for Ciresi to be ending up third in this race, after all the money and media buys. His heart is in the right place, but he just can't seem to convince Democrats here to follow.
MinnPost's Doug Grow is one of the top political reporters in the state, having spent many years at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. When the Strib sacked half their staff in a cost cutting measure last year, Grow (and a lot of other former Strib staffers) ended up at MinnPost, the state's newest online newspaper. For my money, MinnPost is miles ahead of either the Strib or St. Paul's Pioneer Press; it's definitely worth a look of you haven't seen it yet.