The Washington Post today reports that Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (R) signed the election certificate declaring Franken the winner yesterday evening.
Al Franken is perhaps best known for his comic performances on the television show, Saturday Night Live, for which he was also a long-time writer. I first took serious notice of Franken when I came upon his book, irresistibly titled, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. This was followed by the mildly interesting book, Lies: and the lying liars who tell them and a work that I think is quite insightful, The Truth: with jokes.
The Truth, published in 2005, contained a rather remarkable future letter from Franken to a future grandchild:
October 2, 2015
…Barack, I’ll never forget the moment I first saw you in the maternity ward at the hospital, and your mother asked me to suggest a name. In retrospect, I guess it was kind of an obvious choice, but at the time I had no idea that Barack would soon become America’s second most popular baby name.
The stage was set for the 2008 presidential elections…Some criticized me for getting behind the President so early…but it certainly didn’t hurt me in my victorious 2008 Senate race.
It’s been a long wait, but Minnesota finally has two Senators, and maybe politics will start to be fun again.
Al Franken will be officially sworn in during a ceremony at 12:15 PM ET on July 7, 2009.
Added: Al Franken will be sworn in today.
I can’t wait to see if he lets the conservative reptiles have it.