MN-SEN: The Al Franken Decade

It would be quite a sight seeing a comedian on the floor of the Senate. Dare to dream.

Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in challenging incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, a senior Democratic official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The official, who requested anonymity because Franken has not made an announcement, said that the comedian and former star of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" told her of his decision recently.

Andy Barr, the political director of Franken's Midwest Values Political Action Committee, declined to comment.

The good news is that, while this means Franken is leaving his radio show on Feb. 14, someone swooped in and bought Air America and will be able to sustain and support this progressive infrastructure for a while. Hey, as long as there's wingnut welfare, why not moonbat welfare too? And actually, it's an investment in party-building and message distribution.

As for Franken, I think he has a very good chance. Extemporaneously he's actually not that great a speaker; as Mitzi Shore said to Garry Shandling, "You're a writer!" And his past will certainly be used to attack him. There's acknowledged drug use, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Franken and Davis routine where they "call for the violent overthrow of the US government" used in an attack ad.

But when he's prepared, Al is a great performer. And he's very smart. And he can debate circles around Norm Coleman. There's going to be a lot of competition in the primary, however, so we'll see.