Al Franken

Al Franken, member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labour Party which affiliates with the National Democratic Party, is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota.  In 2008 he narrowly defeated Republican Senator Norm Coleman by 312 votes, after an automatic recount of votes. He was sworn into the Senate on July 9th 2009, and on September 9th 2008 won the Democratic primary for the senate seat.

Embedding the video unfortunately didn't work, so I've had to put the link in instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhv3_Ir3p50

In the first of the videos I found from his campaign, he openly attacks Norm Coleman's proposals and the quote that stood out for me was "tax cuts for big business, or tax cuts for your family?" which really would have hit home for the voters, as America is seen as very family orientated. Voting for him was also described as "the only choice for change", sort of a spin off of Obama's campaign for Change, promising to do the same, and affiliating Coleman with Bush at the start of the video. Whereas Coleman wanted tax cuts for the rich, billions in tax breaks for big oil and companies that ship American jobs overseas, Franken was in favour of cutting taxes for small businessses and middle class and $5000 for families for college tuition. This would have appealed to the Americans more, hence why he was voted into the senate, as he practically looks like a saint alongside Coleman.

Franken winning the vote was significant, as since senators have been elected in the state of Minnesota, 26 have been Republicans, and the minority - 13 - have been Democrats.
 However hard hitting this ad seems to be, I can't help but view it as quite impersonal, it's not as if Franken is speaking directly to the people, which could be seen as a negative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQFaxnwJc8E&NR=1

The second video I found is Franken retaliating at claims made against him by his opponent, Norm Coleman, about comments he made when he was a comedian, and how it would relate to him as a politician. This video is set in his office, he's wearing a suit and looks very presentable. This can be seen as a positive thing, however some may see it as a way of alienating the public, as kind of aristocratic. Considering his party alliance, it is odd to think that he wouldn't want to be seen as one of the people, rather than just another politician in a suit and an office. It does however, set him in quite a positive light, as he tries to justify comments he made, dismissing Coleman's comments as not a real debate, as sort of petty. He puts Coleman down, saying that what he is doing is "No joke", no doubt a pun about his days as a comedian.