Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American politician, comedian, writer and liberal political commentator. He first became famous as a writer and a performer for the television show Saturday Night Live, then moved into writing (and appearing in) several films. He then became a political commentator, writer of several best-selling books, and host of a nationally syndicated radio show on Air America Radio.
On February 14, 2007, Franken announced his candidacy for the 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He was endorsed by that party on June 7, 2008, and won the nomination in its primary on September 9, 2008.[1][2] On November 18, 2008, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board’s certification of the pre-recount results of the election showed Franken trailing Senator Norm Coleman by 215 votes, or less than 0.0075 percent of the over 2.8 million votes cast.[3][4][5][6] However, under Minnesota state law, an automatic recount was mandated, because the official margin was less than 0.5% percent of the total votes cast. The recount began November 19, 2008.[6] By January 3, 2009, Franken had taken the lead by 225 votes.[7] The canvassing board certified Franken’s winning margin on January 5, 2009, officially completing the recount.[8][9] Coleman’s campaign filed an election contest on January 6, 2009.