Jul 1, 2009 6:52 pm US/Central
1-On-1 With Senator-Elect Al Franken
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Al Franken has kept a low profile these past 8 months. He says he's been studying the issues he'll be dealing with in Washington, D.C. and keeping up with Senate events but staying out of the public eye.
CBS
Al Franken has kept a low profile these past 8 months. He says he's been studying the issues he'll be dealing with in Washington, D.C. and keeping up with Senate events but staying out of the public eye.
In one day, he has gone from a Senator-in-waiting to Senator-elect.
At the Franken's busy Minneapolis home bouquets of flowers were delivered throughout the day. Franni Franken offers chocolates to visitors as the reality of their new life sets in.
"I have to remind myself to breathe every once in a while. Because as long as it was for waiting, when it actually happens it's still a little overwhelming," said Franni Franken.
As congratulations pour in from around the country, Senator-elect Franken appears relaxed and jokes with his wife.
"Hey honey? I'm a better husband than Mark Sanford?" Franken asks his wife Franni, with a sense of humor some say was missing during the campaign.
"I want the people in this state to call me Al. And that there's only one person in the state that I will require to call me senator, and we have been married 34 years," said Franken.
He said he'll spend a good deal of time convincing the majority of Minnesotans who didn't vote for him to judge him by his actions.
But he hasn't forgotten the rancor of the longest U.S. Senate race in state history.
"I think they'll have to watch what I do and what I say, but I thought that our part of the campaign was not as rough as the other side, frankly," he said.
Franken is already a target of conservative criticism, but is anxious to meet his new Senate colleagues.
"And I think that some of the others who may have a jaundiced view of me will actually like me," he said.
On Wednesday, the Frankens secured an apartment in Washington, D.C.; an apartment they found on Craigslist.
Franken also now has a Senate office in Washington, D.C. It's the same one former Sen. Norm Coleman used. On Wednesday, Senate workers put Al Franken's name on the door.
Franken will be sworn in early next week, possibly Tuesday. As tradition requires, Franken has asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Senator and Vice President Walter Mondale to present him on the Senate floor.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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