Let's be Frank about this...

Admiral Michael Franken, that is

If every Iowa voter had the chance to talk to Admiral Mike Franken, D-Sioux City, for a few hours, he'd probably be the state's next United States Senator.

Admiral Michael Franken on the WHO-TV set for The Insiders with David Price.

I've come to know him through a quarantine-inspired Zoom coffee klatch with other Iowa progressives. He tends to listen more than talk unless called upon for his perspective. And then, wow, does he have a breadth of experience to bring to a discussion.

For the purpose of this column, we spent a good chunk of one-on-one time recently talking about his reasons for wanting to serve in congress.

Franken doesn't need a job. He needs to serve.

Progressives would appreciate the understanding an admiral brings to scrutinizing the military budget and how waste can be cut, and funds redirected to meet the times. And progressives will like his commitment to working toward a single-payer health care system.

Swing voters will appreciate his attainment of Vice-Admiral in the United States Navy. Three stars. Count ‘em. One, two, three. A big deal.

Environmentalists will have a friend in Franken, who has studied microorganisms in the soil since he was a kid. Farmers can relate to his thoughts on creating new markets for corn other than feeding cattle and fueling an auto industry that is shifting to electric vehicles. He has ideas about creating greenhouses in small towns to supply food by using lower-cost wind energy. As Franken says, it makes no sense for our lettuce to come from Venezuela. The ability to produce food for the market in which it is grown is a national security issue, he says.

Organized Labor will appreciate his roots as a meat cutter in northwest Iowa and his support of workers’ rights.

A strength Franken would bring to the Senate is his understanding of foreign affairs and the military. He commanded the USS Winston Churchill, a destroyer, at sea. Also, under his command, women’s health projects were developed in Africa.

He knows a thing or two about better uses of warships. We can’t seem to get goods shipped to and from China. Franken believes U.S. assets such as naval ships could be put to work by other branches of government like departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce. He says there are much better ways to utilize ships than 'dicking around going from port to port on meaningless and outdated missions.'

How in the world could that kind of cooperation happen between long-entrenched bureaucracies, I asked:

Pass an authorization, says Franken. And get collaboration among the executive branch and stop operating as independent silos.

Well, ok then.

Franken took his time entering the democratic primary to unseat the 88-year-old Senator Grassley, the oldest Republican member of the Senate. Assuming good health, Grassley will be 89 during the next general election, putting him at age 95 if he finishes the Senate term.

Is it fair to use age as an issue? It is in the state of Iowa when it comes to getting a driver’s license.

Iowans can renew their driver’s license every eight years until they reach the age of 72. After that birthdate, we need to do so every two years out of concern for evidence of 'diminished skills.' Grassley at age 88 is ten years older than Joe Biden, whom the far right (he embraces) says is too old to serve.

Even Jimmy Falon jabbed Grassley for his age last week (in the 2:20 mark).

FALON ON GRASSLEY

Franken, now 63, intrigued me when he ran in the last U.S. Senate Democratic primary to defeat Sen. Joni Ernst. He lost the primary to Theresa Greenfield, who had the early support of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Many of us were surprised to see the DCCC get involved in a statewide primary election. But they sure did and blocked funding that could have come to Franken. I thought at the time, if anyone had a chance at defeating Ernst, it would be Franken. But what did I know? I figured the Beltway gang knew what they were doing.

Like many Iowans coming of age whose parents can't write college tuition checks with ease, Franken decided to join the service. Not just any branch, but the United States Navy. His meteoric rise says a lot about how his peers and superiors see him as a leader. It takes smarts, natural leadership ability, creative problem-solving, and the ability to see the big picture. And, Franken adds, a bit of ‘Iowa nice.’

Like his current primary challenger, Abby Finkenaur, Greenfield racked up endorsements and cash early on, so I was surprised when Richard Bender, an early progressive and designer of the Iowa caucus process, supported Franken in the primary to run against Ernst. Bender, now retired, worked for Senator Tom Harkin for much of their respective careers on the Hill, so his involvement piqued my curiosity.

"Well," said Bender when asked about his support of Franken. "I want to win. A candidate doesn't get much better bringing votes in from the center than an admiral from northwest Iowa without a voting record to attack. And a progressive."

Greenfield won the primary and lost the general election, and Joni Ernst was re-elected.

Abby Finkenhaur is running in the primary to face Grassley in the 2022 election. According to the latest financial disclosure reports, she has a big head start and has raised more money than Grassley. That's an impressive feat. Up until Franken entered the race, she was favored to win the nomination. As a result, anti-Grassley fans parked cash seemingly early and often.

Will that support hold? Or will it shift?

This is a tough column to write because I have long advocated for women running for office.

My son was six years old in 1989 when he looked at a calendar featuring the entire U.S. Congress and said:

"Mom, why are they all white men?"

Emily's List stands for 'Early Money Is Like Yeast, it makes the dough rise, and I'm a firm believer in supporting solid women candidates in primaries. Had Finkenaur not lost her congressional seat in the year Joe Biden won the presidency, she could have been positioned to take on Iowa's senior senator. But even as an incumbent, she couldn't hold the seat.

In the past year, I've come to know Franken. We've had long talks about issues, including personal reasons he supports choice, adoption, Special Olympics, and people with disabilities.

As a kid growing up near Sioux Center, he learned to swim in Dry Creek, near Lebanon, Iowa (population 51). Today, he says the water can't sustain life. The stream that once was home to Cottonwood trees, beaver, muskrat, and fish is uninhabitable. He is adamant about cleaning our rivers and streams and has clear ideas on how to get there. He blames 'capitalism run amok' for the toxins killing the Dry Creeks of the world.

Franken country, northwest Iowa.

Experience.

Around the time Abby Finkenaur was graduating from college, Franken was in charge of American forces in East Africa, overseeing the efforts of a staff of 4,000 U.S. government employees across the interagency, and foreign military staff. His next job was as President Obama's chief of legislative affairs for the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps.

The halls of congress are familiar to him. He was the first military officer to serve as a legislative fellow to Senator Ted Kennedy during 1996-1997.

Those Capitol halls he walked were defiled on January 6 in an attempted coup stoked by the former president of the United States. Senator Grassley accepted the losing president’s endorsement recently because as Grassley said, "I was born at night, but not last night. So if I didn't accept the endorsement of a person that's got 91% of the Republican voters in Iowa, I wouldn't be too smart. I'm smart enough to accept that endorsement."

Leadership? Come on, Senator Grassley. People died that day. And democracy came close to dying that day. We might disagree on countless policy issues, but the preservation of democracy? What do you stand for? Not the oath you've pledged during your many swearing-in ceremonies to support the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I've learned about Franken's childhood, his hard-driving father, and how he worked most of his youth alongside his dad.

Joe Franken and his son, Micheal.

I do not know Franken's primary opponents from either this primary or the last one. But The Des Moines Register's editorial board came to support Franken over Greenfield in the last primary. I'll bet they do so again. Not that any endorsements matter, including this Substack column.

Every voter will not have the chance to talk to Franken between now and June 7, 2022, the day of the primary election, or November 8, 2022.

Does he have a chance? I don't know. Maybe the best thing he's got going for him is that pundits don't think the Iowa U.S. Senate race is a contest and will stay out and let Iowa voters decide.

Oh, I hope he stops using words like 'plethora' when 'plenty' will do. It can come off as arrogance. I hope his advisors help him distill a 30-minute discussion into a 30-second sound bite. And I wish he wouldn't call me 'ma'am,' although I get it's a learned habit from serving in the military.

Personally, I have worked with business leaders for over 20 years. The most successful are those who can see five, ten, 20 years out and beyond. They understand how to motivate and inspire leadership in others. They know there are opportunities in crisis, and they know that what has always worked in the past won't always work in the future. Shifting, pivoting, creating, and being open to new ideas are all essential to staying relevant. Franken gets that.

Politicians can be focused on the next fundraiser, not how government can work better in the long and short term.

As of this writing, the Biden Build Back Better agenda hangs in the hands of just a couple of Senators. It does matter who represents us in congress. Who is voting on the current package will boil down to whether or not we have affordable child care, fix unsafe bridges, and whether you can get hearing aids covered. That and much more, plus, the likes of Jeff Bezos (and a few other billionaires) will have to pay income tax —like the rest of us.

Iowa voters will be hiring a U.S. Senator and I hope they choose Admiral Michael Franken.

Links: October 27, 2021 piece in Forbes magazine. Iowa’s 2022 Senate Race May Change National Security Leadership In D.C.

Franken Wikipedia.

Franken campaign website.

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