politics

The three DFL candidates for U.S. Senate who want to oust GOP incumbent Norm Coleman participated in their initial debate Friday night, providing a first, brief glimpse at how they might seek to differentiate themselves.

Trial lawyer Mike Ciresi, who led the state's fight against Big Tobacco, hammered on the theme of leadership, saying that for 35 years he's been fighting for Minnesotans through his legal work.

"What you want is leadership," Ciresi said. "I want to go to Washington to shake things up."

Al Franken, a comedian and author known for playing the self-esteem challenged Stuart Smalley on "Saturday Night Live," took aim at Coleman himself, attacking what he said was the senator's allegiance to the divisive politics of the Bush administration.

"Minnesotans want change," Franken said.

Franken talked of his 3,000 volunteers and endorsements from labor. "What we need to win is a grassroots, people-powered campaign."

Jim Cohen, a longtime environmental activist and the least known of the three, said he's the best choice to oppose Coleman because of a long-term commitment to public service, the environment and his ability to bridge the ideological divide.

"What is really required is someone who has been fighting on these issues for average people for years and years," Cohen said.

Discussed a mix of issues

The three men took to the couch on Twin Cities Public Television's weekly public affairs show "Almanac" for only 22 minutes in a relatively relaxed chat session, moderated by hosts Eric Eskola and Cathy Wurzer.

The debate touched on style, a gas tax increase, withdrawal from Iraq, gay marriage and the environment, but didn't reveal any striking policy differences.

Eskola asked Ciresi and Franken to answer their critics. The former has battled the notion that he's a "money-grubbing trial lawyer" and the latter has been called "divisive and mean-spirited."

Ciresi said, "When you're a leader, people take shots at you." He went on to say that his Minneapolis-based law firm, Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi has put more than $20 million into the state through charitable giving.

"I've been getting results for Minnesotans and middle-class Minnesotans for over 20 years," he said.

Franken said, "I've been writing about the right-wing scare machine for years, and they don't like me."

Franken said that as a senator, he would work to "bring folks together" by fighting for universal health care and education. "We actually had the world behind us on 9/12," Franken said, adding that Bush squandered that goodwill.

When the Franken criticism came up, Ciresi interjected, "I like Al."

No name-calling