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Home | Politically Connected | National Politics | U.S. Senate
Debate: 4 DFLers throw elbows while agreeing on a lot
Al Franken and Mike Ciresi pointed to differences, while Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Jim Cohen tried to break out.
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The four major DFL U.S. Senate candidates sparred in front of a packed Minneapolis high school auditorium Tuesday night, touching on health care, immigration, Iraq, Iran, same-sex marriage and the need to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.
Comedian Al Franken, attorney Mike Ciresi, professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and environmentalist Jim Cohen agreed more than they disagreed, but they drew some sharp distinctions during two hours of intense audience questioning at Roosevelt High School.
Little known outside of DFL inside circles, Nelson-Pallmeyer was a crowd favorite, strident in his criticism of President Bush and absolute in his fervor for a national, single-payer health care system and stricter global warming standards.
Ciresi called for embedding labor and environmental protections in all trade agreements, while Franken portrayed Coleman as a "friend and enabler" of Bush.
Cohen drew strong applause with calls for complete troop withdrawal from Iraq by April and for scrapping No Child Left Behind education legislation.
Franken unequivocally supported same-sex marriage, noting that "I've been married for 32 years, and it's the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't see why other people should be denied that right."
The audience was filled with DFL activists, who cheered candidates' calls for stricter emission standards, unrestricted abortion rights, strong labor laws and fair immigration.
Ciresi's most spirited remarks came in answer to an abortion rights question when he said "Republicans said they were going to get government out of our lives," but instead told Americans how to live, pray, die and which children to have.
"We should have a politics of hope and vision. Don't let Republicans dictate the agenda to us," he said.
The latest polls have shown Franken and Ciresi evenly matched against Coleman, although Franken continues to struggle with high negatives while Ciresi is dogged by low name recognition.
That's unlikely to change immediately, since candidates on the DFL side are locked in a months-long battle for the party endorsement. That has kept them focused on low-profile efforts to win delegates.
Franken scored a coup last week with an endorsement from one of the state's largest and most powerful labor groups, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 5, which boasts more than 40,000 Minnesota members.
Lately, Ciresi has attempted to go on the offensive and recently said that his own "record of delivery" compared with Franken's "is the difference between Mount Everest and an anthill."
The two have kept up a tireless pace of campaign stops and fundraising to demonstrate their viability in what is expected to be a fiercely contested race to unseat Coleman.
Struggling to break out of the second tier are Cohen and Nelson-Pallmeyer, who lag far behind Ciresi and Franken in funding and name recognition.
Both were hoping solid debate performances and decidedly left-of-center positions would gain them favor with delegates and propel them to the endorsement.
Patricia Lopez • 651-222-1288
Patricia Lopez • plopez@startribune.com
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