In an election year, celebs who ordinarily couldn’t locate Lake Erie on a map suddenly seem to find our humble swing-state mecca irresistible. A few months ago, Don Cheadle stopped by to support Barack Obama, and even Sean Penn has stopped by, to lend some Hollywood credence to Dennis Kucinich regularly scheduled ego-stroking. Next week, it’s Al Franken’s turn.
Franken, known for his comic genius as Stuart Smalley on “Saturday Night Live” and his progressive radio show on Air America, has finally switched over to the dark side of politics, officially making him way less funny than he used to be. He’s running for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota, and quickly learning that trying to be a politician is way harder than just making fun of them. …
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2008.