Almanac: At the Capitol

It's not scientific, but I have been at the State Fair almost every day so far. And each time I stop by the DFL and GOP booths along with walking past the U.S. Senate candidates' booths. From what I've seen and heard, Franken is a big draw. He's has long lines of people waiting to meet him and get his autograph. His "star power" is helping him at the fair. He also is showing a sense of humor (which many point out he hasn't done much of this campaign). He has playing cards complete with stats like: Born: 5/21/51, College: Harvard '73, #1 Best-sellers: 3. Each day there's a different playing card including "Franni's Story" about his wife who het met the first week of college. Meanwhile, Ciresi is spending a lot of time at the Fair, but I wonder if he's spending too much time with each individual person. I'm not sure I've seen a politician at the Fair spend as much one-on-one time with fair-goers. I've watched him spend 15-20 minutes per person. I'm sure the people he's talking to appreciate the time (or maybe they want to get to the next Prontopup). But he probably needs to pick up the pace to hit more critical mass. The great irony of this race is that Franken, Ciresi and Coleman are all on the same street. I haven't seen Norm at his booth yet or much buzz either.