Franken gets the last laugh

When the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled comedian and satirist Al Franken the winner in the state’s eight-month legal battle to fill the U.S. Senate’s last vacancy, it was defeated challenger Norm Coleman who unexpectedly had the best zinger during the pair’s competing news conferences.

“For the media, this election has been a godsend,” said Republican Mr. Coleman amid a roar of laughs from a gaggle of reporters gathered to hear the one-term senator say he wasn’t going to challenge the court’s decision, paving the way for his Democratic challenger to assume office.

“At a time when the Fourth Estate is kind of worried about their economic future, this has been a full-employment act for the media,” Mr. Coleman cracked.

Meanwhile, the tenor of Mr. Franken’s victory speech was anything but comedic, as the longtime funnyman delivered the kind of sober, low-key remarks that had become a staple during his campaign. Throughout the long campaign and epic recount, the comedian played it straight.

“Even though [wife] Franni and I are thrilled and honored by the faith that Minnesotans have placed in me, I’m also humbled, not just by the closeness of this election, but by the enormity of the responsibility that comes with this office,” said the senator-elect Tuesday.

Those expecting the former “Saturday Night Live” regular to bring his laugh track to Capitol Hill may also be in for an indefinite wait. He is expected to be sworn in early this week as the 60th senator in the Democratic caucus, with potentially momentous consequences for the balance of power in Congress.

“His campaign dialed backed the humor a long way,” said Kevin Parsneau, a political science professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato. “Not that you didn’t see Al Franken joking and laughing, but it almost was less so, I thought, than an ordinary candidate might do.”

Many Minnesota political watchers, including Mr. Parsneau, say that Mr. Franken was so determined to prove his validity as a legitimate Senate candidate that he purposely shunned humor on the campaign trail.

“I won’t say he overcompensated in the sense that he was doing the wrong thing, but certainly he was compensating, recognizing that people know him as a comedian and that it’s going to be tough to be taken seriously,” Mr. Parsneau said.

Mr. Franken had little to laugh about during the 2008 race, which he officially won on Tuesday by 312 votes out of more than 2.9 million cast. Critics repeatedly dug up old video clips and sound bites from Mr. Franken’s past comedic routines, highlighting in particular the candidate’s history of raunchy, blue humor.

The Democrat also was dogged with questions about his personal finances, and eventually admitted last year that he owed about $70,000 in unpaid taxes in at least 17 states where he performed between 2003 and 2007. He blamed bad accounting and said he overpaid taxes by that much in Minnesota and New York.

“It was a rough campaign for both candidates, and maybe the closeness of the race didn’t really pave the way for a lot of humor,” said Garrick Percival, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, who closely followed the race. “The Coleman folks brought up a lot controversial things in his past.”

Mr. Franken kept a low profile during the recount battle and stayed away from the court proceedings dealing with the election recount — unlike Mr. Coleman, who regularly attended the hearings.

“A lot of people were surprised by that,” Mr. Percival said. “My guess is, that by showing up at the trial he would lend credibility to Coleman’s arguments that [the election] is still undecided.”

So with Mr. Coleman stuck in a Minnesota courtroom fighting for his political life, Mr. Franken instead spent his time quietly studying policy issues and flying to Washington for briefings with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and others.

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