Al Franken may be best known for his political comedy, but the best-selling author and former Air America Radio host is dead serious about his U.S. Senate campaign in Minnesota.

Franken made Minnesota news in February 2007 when he announced he was running for election to the U.S. Senate from the state during the final episode of his Air America Radio program, "The Al Franken Show." The show ran for nearly three years.

"I'm not a typical politician," Franken said in a video message on his Web site, Alfranken.com. "I've spent my career as a comedian. Minnesotans have a right to be skeptical about whether I'm ready for this challenge, and to wonder how seriously I would take the responsibility that I'm asking you to give me."

Franken said that he has many reasons to be taken seriously, partly due to his background. He grew up in a working-class family that was forced to move to Minneapolis after the family quilting business failed in the ‘50s. He said another reason is his wife, Franni Franken, who grew up with four siblings and a widowed mother reliant upon Social Security benefits.

"That's what progressives like me believe the government is there for," he said. "To provide security for middle-class families like the one I grew up in, and opportunity for working poor families like the one (my wife) grew up in."

According to Franken's site, "A hard day's work should earn a decent day's pay." Franken himself is a member of four unions: the Writers' Guild of America (WGA), the Screen Actors' Guild (SAG), the Directors' Guild of America (DGA), and the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA).

Other issues central to the Al Franken Senate campaign are ending the war in Iraq, establishing universal healthcare, investing in renewable energies, and revising public education's funding policies.

Franken is running as a member of Minnesota's DFL party. He hopes to win the party endorsement and defeat incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican first elected in 2002.

Franken graduated from Harvard University with a degree in government. He and his wife, Franni, have two children, Thomasin and Joe.