Why is Al Franken touring so much?

[LSK]

Today hes in Seattle. Not that I'm complaining, I think its good for AAR hosts to move around. Just wondering why hes always on the road.

[Atman]

1. Don't you mean "campaigning?"

Just sayin'

[LSK]

4. well is he running for President??

I thought he was running for Senate. Why would he "campaign" in Seattle, Washingon DC, North Carolina, etc...

[Beelzebud]

2. Because it's good publicity for the AAR affiliates.

[NYCGirl]

3. He's doing fundraisers for Democratic candidates — from AAR today:

Hey Kiddies! Al's in Seattle doing a fundraiser for 2006 Senate incumbent Patty Murray. We'll speak with the Senator at the top of the show, and also hear from:

Christy Harvey, our news regular from The Center for American Progress.

Ret. Major General William Nash, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He’s also a lecturer at Georgetown and Princeton, and a military expert for ABC News. He'll talk about the situation in Iraq.

Rep. Jay Inslee, who represents Washington's First Congressional District in the House of Representatives. He'll talk about his proposal for a new Apollo Energy Project, and hybrid cars.

and pundit king Norman J. Ornstein. He's a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Al Franken Show regular.

http://www.airamericaradio.com/

[LSK]

6. ok, thats cool then

:thumbsup:

[thereismore]

5. he also likes to do USO tours. he's also running for Senate. he's OK. nt

[MrPrax]

7. Self-Promotion...

It's what he has always done for a living...

[Pirate Smile]

8. Schultz and Stephanie Miller have been on the road frequently as

well.

Along with fundraising as stated above, I think it is also promotional.

There isn't much advertising for any of these shows but when they go to different cities there are local articles, etc. that may be the first time that people become aware that these shows are even on the local radio dial.

I only know that there is a semi-local station that I can usually pick up in my van because of the internet. If I wasn't checking out DU and AAR, I wouldn't even know it existed.

[Jane Austin]

9. I think he is combining these trips with meeting with advertisers.

After they lost stations in Arizona and Montana, the latter possibly because advertisers were being pressured not to support the station, Ed Schultz went on a tour of nine of his markets. I think it was to talk up his show and tout leftie demographics in order to convince advertisers to sponsor his show.

I also got the impression that Big Eddie thought the tour was a success and he seems invigorated by the contacts.

Al had Schultz on his show when they were both in California, and there's a promo on our local station in which Ed says that he and Al Franken have a lot more listeners than cable news, especially MSNBC.

I think maybe Ed and Al got together and blitzed their markets.

Probably not a bad idea.



(Edit: Hit the "Submit" button too fast.)