Is Al Franken Electable?

Is Al Franken electable?

I'd be tempted to assume not, based on Franken's tax problems and new revelations of comedy writing for Playboy that includes graphic sexual descriptions, but then again one has to take into account the Minnesota electorate and the current political climate.

Polling data pre-dating the revelations about the latest Playboy article suggest that Franken's campaign is in trouble:

Despite sporting a job approval rating below 50 percent, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) holds a 51 to 44 percent lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race, according to a new Minneapolis Star-Tribune poll.

Usually a sub-50 percent approval rating would spell serious trouble for an incumbent – and still may cause problems for Coleman – but Franken has spent the last few weeks dealing with his own fallout from revelations that he had filed his personal income taxes in 17 states incorrectly and owed $70,000 in back taxes.

The reports hurt the image of the Minnesota native, who returned to his home state after spending a couple of decades in New York writing for Saturday Night Live and hosting an Air America radio show. The poll showed 42 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with his response to the situation, and more than quarter of independents and one-fifth of Democrats said it made them less likely to vote for him.

Only 33 percent said they viewed Franken favorably, compared to 39 percent who see him in a negative light. Compared to Coleman’s 53-33 favorable/unfavorable breakdown, this is not a good sign for an challenger.

Here's my take.  Whatever widespread name recognition Franken had going into the campaign, it was based on his career as a comedian, starting with Saturday Night Live and going on from there.  A comedian has some goodwill going into any campaign, but that goodwill is a sort of "make me laugh" goodwill (with an added element of "prove you're competent").  Tax problems are the essence of UN-funny. 

The Playboy article by Franken is more to type than the tax problems.  At least it fits with Franken's career as a comedian.  It's certainly more funny than a tax audit.  So I don't think the Playboy magazine article by itself is going to tank Franken's campaign.

Still, I suspect Franken has more skeletons in his closet where these came from.  Coleman's campaign probably found Franken to be one of their easier cases for opposition research.  It will be interesting to watch the rest of the campaign play out.