Sen. Al Franken revved up his political machine once again on Friday to garner support for Democrats running for Senate in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
In a fundraising pitch, Franken asked supporters to donate to his leadership PAC so it can bolster the pockets of Jack Conway in Kentucky and Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania -- the latter of whom recently defeated Franken's colleague Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary.
Franken described their challengers, Pat Toomey and Rand Paul, as "a former derivatives trader from Wall St., and a Tea Partier." Paul has come under fire in recent days for his statements regarding the government's role in civil rights legislation.
"On Wednesday, Rand Paul couldn't answer a simple question of whether or not he supported desegregating lunch counters - a viewpoint so unbelievably dated it doesn't belong in this century, much less a 2010 campaign," Franken wrote. Franken hopes to raise $5,000 for each campaign "asap." The letter is indicative of Franken's growing fundraising efforts in the 2010 election cycle, which have heated up recently with several star-studded events featuring other Saturday Night Live alumni. The senator acknowledged in the letter that things are picking up speed. "I'm revving up Midwest Values PAC now because progressives have got to get organized, and get to work, to make sure we're working together to elect candidates like Jack and Joe this November."
