Al Franken wins US Senate seat

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!

ROCHESTER - U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken took the DFL endorsement by acclamation on Saturday, after a day of questions, speeches and fretting by some activists over whether the controversial satirist can wage a focused campaign to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

After being publicly and privately urged to do so, Franken tackled the issue of his sometimes sexually explicit humor head on, with the outright apology that many had been waiting for.

"It kills me that things I said and wrote sent a message ... that they can't count on me to be a champion for women, for all Minnesotans. I'm sorry for that. Because that's not who I am," Franken told delegates.

Franken acknowledged that in his often edgy career as a comedian. "I wrote a lot of jokes. Some of them weren't funny. Some of them weren't appropriate. Some of them were downright offensive. I understand that."

Franken then turned attention to Coleman, saying that "there are some people in Washington who could afford to feel a little less comfortable." Drawing on his strength as an acerbic critic of Republicans, Franken said that he would "stand up to Norm Coleman in a way he's never been stood up to before."

In the end, DFLers agreed with Franken and were preparing to endorse him on the first ballot when Franken's rival, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer withdrew. Franken had garnered nearly 62 percent of the votes, slightly more than needed for endorsement.

Franken said he accepted endorsement in a "spirit of tremendous gratitude and tremendous humility" and would dedicate himself to the tasks of securing universal health care, leveling the economic playing field, improving educational opportunities and withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.