Franken’s challenge

“I’m just an average woman who feels passionate about our

country and our government. I don’t have a lot of

money and I certainly haven’t had the liberty or the freedom to not

work for the last two years, but I still would be an excellent

senator.” — Priscilla Lord Faris

But can she win? She’s an unknown, with little experience and her announcement today that she’s running for the U.S. Senate seems particularly fertilized with a frustration with Al Franken, whose candidacy is not energizing the state, at the moment. His poll numbers aren’t budging.

“I’ve been watching the polls and kind of wondering how this race was going to go and one of the issues for us was where was he going to be in the polls on the 15th?” she told MPR. “If he’s ahead great. If he’s behind. I don’t want to sit and wait and wish or hope.”

This is a shot across the Franken bow.

Franken’s campaign has been puzzling. Polls show energy now tops the list of issues on the mind of voters. So what does a blast of TV commercials for Franken take on this week: Ex-politicians as lobbyists. True, he ties lobbying in with the price of gasoline, but that’s not exactly an energy policy.

Today, on the day Sen. Norm Coleman filed his papers, the Franken campaign put out this statement:

“Six years ago, Norm Coleman was given the chance to go to work for the people of Minnesota. Instead, he sold out to the special interests and voted with George W. Bush nearly 90% of the time – and Minnesotans are paying the price. We can’t afford to stay the course in Iraq, in our energy policy, or with this economy: it’s time for a change.”

The words of Al Franken? Nope. They’re the words of Andy Barr, Franken’s communications director.

The campaign had no comment on Lord Faris’ candidacy.