Commentator Franken said to run for Senate

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Comedian and radio personality Al Franken will run in the 2008 U.S. Senate race, a Minnesota Democratic congressional delegation member said.

Even though no official announcement has been made, Franken has been working the phones, calling prominent Democrats in Minnesota to alert them of his intentions to challenge Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., for the seat, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press said Thursday.

The former "Saturday Night Live" writer recently announced he was leaving Air America effective Feb. 14.He told his listeners that if he were to make a decision before his last show, "I'll make sure you, my listeners, are the first to know" after his wife.

For the moment, though, the liberal talk-show host isn't talking.

"Al obviously made a lot of phone calls," Andy Barr, Franken's spokesman and political director of the commentator's Midwest Values Political Action Committee, told the Pioneer Press. "He hasn't announced any decision that I'm aware of."

But "he's made no secret of the fact that he is seriously considering it," Barr said.