Senate candidate Al Franken wants to talk about jobs, health care and global warming. Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb wants to talk about Franken's failure to pay all his income taxes on time. Guess which everyone is talking about?
From the kitchen table in his tranquil suburban neighborhood,
Brodkorb for the last year has used his
blog "Minnesota Democrats Exposed" to launch a furious political assault on Franken.
He's labeled the former comedian and liberal commentator a "mean-spirited and un-Minnesotan" candidate who's running a "desperate and ridiculous" campaign.
That's routine stuff in the world of political blogging.
But in the last two months Brodkorb has scored two direct hits that have the Franken campaign reeling. Brodkorb scooped the traditional media by detailing extensive bookkeeping problems in New York and California that ultimately
prompted Franken, this week, to pay about $70,000 in back taxes to 17 states.
The stories have knocked Franken off balance as he prepares to take on Sen. Norm Coleman, in what's expected to be one of the most expensive and toughest-fought U.S. Senate races this year.
Recent polling indicates Coleman leads Franken by seven points.
Franken, who has earned income across the country for celebrity appearances and speeches, blamed his accountant of 18 years for failing to pay the appropriate taxes owed in each state.
The accountant, Allen Chanzis of New York, "just made a basic kind of error that had a lot of ramifications," Franken said.
It doesn't appear that Minnesotans are buying that explanation, and Brodkorb has been quick to exploit that doubt, with devastating results.
The Democrats are blowing Brodkorb off as just another cog in the 'Right Wing Noise Machine' but a lot of Minnesotans are listening. And Franken's campaign is paying the price.
You may remember Al Franken as the former SNL writer and
Stuart Smalley character from that same show.
As of late, Franken has been a talk show host for
Air America Radio, which has been
embroiled in a
number of
controversies as well.
Franken has also authored the
bestselling 'Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot,' obviously taking some small umbrage at El Rushbo's political commentary.
Rush himself has been surprisingly quiet on the controversy, though he has slammed Franken and Air America in the past with regard to the AAR controversies.
As with the Presidential race, a long way to go, yet this can't help but hurt Franken in the long run. You can be sure Coleman and the Minnesota GOP won't let either Franken or the voting public forget about it, either.
