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ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) ― Al Franken won a resounding endorsement for U.S. Senate Saturday from Democratic activists at their state convention, quickly dispatching with concerns about past jokes that offended some fellow Democrats and promising a tough challenge to incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

"To the people of Minnesota, let me say this: I'm not a perfect person," said Franken, a former "Saturday Night Life" writer and performer. "I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers. But I'll tell the truth, I will keep my spine, and I will work for you."

Franken's only competitor, college professor and peace activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, withdrew after Franken passed the necessary 60-percent threshold on the first ballot. Nelson-Pallmeyer made a motion that delegates unanimously back Franken, putting him over the top.

Nelson-Pallmeyer said he'd work for Franken's election and won't run in the September Democratic primary, and for now Franken is facing no opposition. But trial attorney Mike Ciresi, who dropped out of the endorsement race several months ago, has said in recent days that he's considering a primary run.

Republicans have hammered Franken for months on some of the more outrageous comments and writing from his years as a comedian, as well as problems with his personal finances. They promised to keep up the heat now that he's the chosen Democratic candidate.

Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan attacked Franken as "unqualified, unfit and unprepared to be a United States senator." He said the campaign will employ old Franken material.

"Al Franken wants to wants to talk about Norm Coleman's record. We're not going to be shy about talking about Al Franken's record," Sheehan said.

As he wooed delegates throughout the day, Franken used the Republican assault as a badge of honor and touted himself as someone who can take the fight right back to the GOP.

"The Republicans don't want me to be the nominee," Franken said. "But guess what? Thanks to you, I'm going to be, and guess what? I'm going to beat Norm Coleman by holding him accountable."

Franken's show of strength came as something of a surprise after a rocky few weeks in which some Democrats, led by U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, criticized a racy column he wrote for Playboy magazine in 2000 and, earlier this week, joking comments he made about rape that were included in a 1995 New York magazine article about "Saturday Night Live."

Rumors flew leading up to Saturday that Franken's support was collapsing, and that other candidates were considering a late entrance into the endorsement stakes. Franken finally tackled the controversy head-on in his nomination speech to delegates, where he said some of the things he said and wrote over 35 years as a writer were "downright offensive.

"I understand that. And I understand that the people of Minnesota deserve a senator who won't say things that make them feel uncomfortable," Franken said.

On Saturday morning, Franken took a key step in quelling the controversy when he earned the endorsement of the DFL Feminist Caucus. The group's leader, Jackie Stevenson, said the caucus board screened both candidates and voted 72 percent in favor of endorsing Franken.

She said the group was impressed with his direct answers on issues critical to members, including domestic violence. She said Nelson-Pallmeyer had been more vague. Stevenson said the group was willing to look past salacious material from Franken's past that some have considered degrading to women.

"At the time he didn't realize how it would affect him later in life," Stevenson said. "He wouldn't do it again today."

After winning the endorsement, Franken was joined on the convention stage by most of the state's leading delegates, including some like Sen. Amy Klobuchar who'd taken offense at some of his old jokes. Klobuchar had said Franken needed to address the controversy, and on stage together the two clasped hands and raised them in a victory pose.

During several speeches to the convention hall, Franken argued he was better positioned than Nelson-Pallmeyer to raise millions of dollars and mount the sophisticated campaign operation needed to tackle Coleman. He referred to his extensive work in 2006 raising funds and campaigning for state legislative candidates all over Minnesota, a move that earned Franken a tremendous amount of good will among Democratic activists.

Delegate Mike Zellmer, a 28-year-old retail manager from Inver Grove Heights, didn't settle on Franken until recently. He said Franken's war chest, organization and name recognition won him over.

"He can go after Norm Coleman in a way Jack really can't," Zellmer said. Of the controversy surrounding Franken's past, Zellmer said, "I don't think the people of Minnesota will hold it against him."

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)