U.S. Sen. Al Franken said he will back former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her likely presidential run, and will not consider any other candidate.

"I think Hillary would make a great president. I haven't announced that I'm supporting her. Does this count?" Franken said during an interview on the MSNBC cable network with Ari Melber that aired Tuesday afternoon. He added that he feels no need to scope out other presidential contenders.

"I'm ready for Hillary," Franken said. "I think we've not had someone this experienced, and this tough. She's very, very impressive." Asked whether his stance was a formal endorsement, Franken said, "If this is what you call an endorsement, I guess yes. So yes."

Franken added that he's also been asked about U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as a presidential candidate in 2016.

"She is great," he said, "but she's not running."

Franken has long-standing ties to Clinton dating back to his first Senate run, but the endorsement was met with surprise by some political watchers, if only because Franken's politics line up more with Warren. Both are considered among the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate.

Franken

"One would think that if Warren were ever to think about running, he would be one of the first senators she would consult and he would be with her," said Larry Sabato, a national political analyst and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "To me, it either suggests that Warren is telling the absolute truth that she is not going to run, or Franken decided that it's in his interests and the party's interests to unite around Hillary."

Sabato noted that while Franken "marches to the beat of his own drummer," he found the timing of Franken's endorsement intriguing.

"It doesn't seem like an accident," Sabato said, "but it may be that Franken endorsed Clinton at the very moment that the demand for Warren was growing, and it's still growing."

Sabato also noted that Warren's repeated assurances that she is not a candidate should be treated with skepticism.

"With politicians, you must analyze every word," he said. "She did not say 'I will not run,' she said 'I am not running'. If people think that's playing word games, they haven't studied politics very long."

Franken spoke only to MSNBC on Tuesday and his staff declined to make him available for local interviews. In a statement, spokesman Michael Dale-Stein reiterated what Franken said in the MSNBC interview.

Franken isn't the only Minnesota senator to express support for Clinton. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was among the delegation of the U.S. Senate's women Democrats who in a letter written last fall urged Clinton to run for president.

Abby Simons • 651-925-5043