The liberal wing of the political media may have some catching up to do on radio and cable television, where people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly hold sway. But it is the gone-but-not-forgotten liberal radio net Air America that has a former star in the Senate – and now activists want to send an ex-MSNBC host to Washington.
Al Franken (D-MN) became known primarily for his tenure with NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” franchise, but also entered the publishing world where he spent a lot of time focusing on Limbaugh, eventually took an airshift on Air America and then was elected to the US Senate from his home state of Minnesota.
Activists have noted the departure of liberal host Keith Olbermann from MSNBC, and they are already thinking he might be a good candidate to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in 2012.
According to The Hill, the draft Olbermann concept was hatched at a conference in Pennsylvania and is now spreading on Facebook, Twitter and on liberal blogs and websites.
Olbermann is a former resident of Connecticut and it is believed he could easily re-establish residency in time for a run for the seat.
Olbermann’s plans in the wake of his departure from MSNBC are unknown.
RBR-TVBR observation: The kind of speech that works well on a political talk show doesn’t necessarily play so well on the campaign trail or in the Halls of Congress. And the ample supply of controversial remarks floating around the internet makes a political opinionator a dream candidate – to the oppo research squad of the competition. Franken had to sublimate his personality for two years to make it into the Senate. Can Olbermann do the same? Does he even want to? We doubt it.
