Franken Will Represent All Iowans in U.S. Senate

I’ve been with retired Admiral Michael Franken enough to know he would make an excellent U.S. Senator. My comparison is with Tom Harkin, with whom I also spent time. Harkin was arguably Iowa’s best senator to date. If elected, Franken could also be one of the great U.S. Senators from Iowa.

Franken and I both served in the military. In my conversations with him – about his leaving the Navy after the election of the 45th president, about how he would control the military budget by knowing where the pork is hidden, and about ending the nuclear arms race – he is much like me. Many of us seek that in a candidate.

What makes him different from typical politicians is Franken is doing the work of a campaign by visiting all parts of Iowa and speaking with everyday people instead of to the limited network of party activists. He is positioning himself to represent all Iowans, something his opponent has forgotten in his many years of living in Washington, D.C.

Franken is doing things candidates are expected to do, flipping pork burgers at the State Fair, walking in parades, shaking hands with people wherever he goes, and considering a constituent question before he answers it.

Instead of electing Chuck Grassley again, we should send Michael Franken to the U.S. Senate because he is the best person for the job.

~ First published in The Little Village Magazine on Aug. 18, 2022.