By Patrick Appel
Eve Fairbanks is puzzled by Al Franken's new deathly serious campaign ads:
I tend to think gimmick/celebrity candidates too often err on the safe side, leading them to inadvertently reject the very rationales for their candidacies. There's a reason, after all, their parties chose them over that vanilla state senator. Al Franken, moreover, is running in Minnesota, which elected a pro wrestler governor who ran ads featuring his own action figure, for God's sake. I don't mean Franken ought to make himself ridiculous. But where's the humor? Comedy can be a great campaign technique -- it's incisive and humanizing at the same time. Franken comes off like he's embarrassed by the whole concept.
Josh Green profiled Franken earlier this year.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2008/07/bring-the-funny/213649/
