My one siting of Al--far past the Al Franken decade--was a late summer afternoon at the end of August when Al came in during some sort of national event (I don't remember which one) to one of my preferred watering holes. He was a fellow at the JFK School of Government at the Harvard and he'd clearly just been to the beach somewhere (north shore/south short/vineyard, etc) and looked like absolute hell. The look of an unattractive paunchy man in beach clothes after a day at the beach.

But he was unashamed, knowing that folks knew who he was and he hung out and talked with people in his absolute unshaven, sandy glory. Charming and sunburned was he. And I'm sure the far right would have loved a photo of that look.

Much the way I once saw William F. (and my view of what the F was for might not be yours) Buckley in a super market in Nags Head, NC looking as if he's been washed ashore with the SS. Minnow and wished I'd had a camera or a Sears crescent wrench or a notepad to write down his every musing or ...well, you get the gist.

I'm very pro-Al and am happy to hold him to the fire as he moves forward in what is hopefully a new Wellstone era. Cadaver Skull Head (tm) Norm was such a horror.