Lori Sturdevant: Franken's got their interest, is seeking their loyalty

Big turnout among Democrats was the story in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and even Florida, despite the threat by the party's calendar police not to seat that disobedient state's delegates at the national convention.

Big turnout was also the story in Edina last Saturday. U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken was performing, er, appearing in the midsized dining room at the local Davanni's, and it's good for him that the fire marshal didn't get a simultaneous hankering for pizza or a hoagie. The crowd had to exceed the room's authorized capacity by at least 100 warm bodies.

The interest in Franken on a pleasant Saturday afternoon was impressive but not surprising. The former "Saturday Night Live" star and best-selling author has been a crowd magnet from the start of his bid for DFL rights to take on Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman this year. Neither of his two remaining DFL rivals -- Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Mike Ciresi -- has demonstrated as much people-pulling power. A third, Jim Cohen, left the race last week.

If big turnout is again the story at Minnesota's caucuses Tuesday night -- and the red-hot Clinton vs. Obama presidential contest almost guarantees that it will be -- Franken, among the Senate candidates, is best positioned to be the beneficiary.

That's so if his campaign can convince not-so-regular caucusgoers that signing in and casting a presidential ballot Tuesday night isn't enough. Making a difference in the Senate race requires sticking around for the whole meeting and electing delegates.

That will mean turning curious fans into committed supporters -- a transformation that, judging from some of what was said in Edina, is a work in progress.

"I'm very open -- I might be for him, and I might not," confided Mary Ames of Edina, a part-time Medica receptionist and staunch DFLer, as she waited for the candidate to arrive. "But I figured I can't turn him down without knowing the guy."

Franken gets that. In fact, for a guy who has not spent most of his adult life toiling in the Minnesota political system, he exhibits remarkable appreciation for its idiosyncrasies.

A celebrity returning to the state of his youth to run for the U.S. Senate didn't have to show up several years before the election and troop to every party picnic and legislative fundraiser he could find. He didn't have to log long hours at the State Fair, tour 10 college campuses, stomp around the Iron Range on the coldest week of the year or talk himself hoarse at a pizza place in a traditional Republican stronghold.

He could have tapped his coastal friends for big contributions, said to heck with party endorsement and bought enough TV time to put himself in strong contention in the Sept. 9 primary.

But that strategy would have left Franken very open to Coleman's charge that he's been too long removed from Minnesota to represent it well in the U.S. Senate.

By instead running a hands-on, grass-roots campaign, and by adding a recent overlay of TV ads that reinforce his Minnesota connections, Franken gives himself a chance to blunt the inevitable Al-come-lately attack.

Franken's on notice: To be seen as a true Minnesotan, he'll need to exhibit Minnesota Nice.

He was niceness personified at Davanni's, standing and talking at length with the dozens who queued up for one-on-one interaction after a 35-minute speech. That's his pattern at events, an aide explained. Why? It's more personal than large-group Q&A sessions -- even though it's more taxing for the candidate. "He's always the last one out of the room," the aide said.

After his speech, as Franken listened intently to an earnest-faced young woman who'd stood for an hour to hear him, Mary Ames watched and nodded approvingly. "He's a formidable speaker -- very exciting and upbeat and positive. I love all that," she said.

Enough to caucus for him? Ames still wasn't saying. But she left impressed.