Don't confuse me...

Franken: ‘Don't confuse me with a political strategist’

By Burgess Everett

Al Franken has been barnstorming the country for a year and a half, raising money and campaigning in a spirited push to help Democrats take back the Senate.

But that doesn’t mean he wants to do electoral politics full time as the next chairman of the party’s campaign arm.

“No. I really don’t. I think that’s a full time job and ... the part about the Senate I like the most is being a legislator. If we get the majority I’ll have a greater chance to do that in a way I want. But no I don’t want to do that,” Franken said in an interview.

That’s not to say Franken isn’t full-bore behind the mission to capitalize on Donald Trump’s unpopularity and a Senate map tilted toward Democrats. As a well-known celebrity and a beloved liberal Minnesota senator with a powerhouse funding operation, Franken is leveraging his prominent status to help the party take the minimum of four seats they need to win back the chamber.

And with a terrible map in 2018, this is the year for Democrats to make their move.

“The Senate is important to me because it will determine if I'm in the majority, if we set the agenda. That's what being in the majority is about,” Franken said. "I'm not a strategist. I just go. Don't confuse me with a political strategist.”

As a member of the party’s rock-ribbed liberal wing, Franken has his favorites — but they are from a wide ideological spectrum. On Friday last week he sent a fundraising email for former moderate Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan in their races, the week before he assisted EMILY’s List in its fundraising efforts to elect pro-abortion rights Democratic women. And in June Franken was headlining fundraising emails for the establishment Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

He has deep relationships with some candidates like Rep. Tammy Duckworth in Illinois and has traveled to battlegrounds like Ohio and Wisconsin — even if he has no intention of taking the responsibility of chairing the DSCC.

“I’ve been going all over the place. I’ve been to California, the ATM machine of the nation, to campaign for Ted Strickland and Jason Kander and Maggie Hassan and Patrick Murphy,” Franken said, flashing just a hint of his trademark dry humor. “I’ve been doing it i suppose for pretty much everybody.”