Al Franken had two goals for the 45 minutes he spent at the State Street Bistro in Waseca at lunchtime Thursday.

Franken, the newly endorsed Democratic challenger to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, wasn’t going to directly persuade any undecided voters to cast a ballot for him on Nov. 4. The six dozen or so people crowded into the cafe were pretty much completely sold already that Franken was their guy.

“There’s something called ‘Rallying the troops,’” Franken said when asked what purpose was served in talking to a crowd made up of Democrats. “You want to get people out there working for you.”

Stressing themes he’s hit throughout the endorsement campaign and at his triumphant DFL State Convention in Rochester, Franken portrayed himself as a candidate focused on what Minnesotans need and Coleman as a senator dedicated to what corporate interests want. He spoke of “universal health care,” an affordable “world class education for all our kids,” energy independence and an energized economy through the creation of a renewable energy industry that will produce “green jobs.”

The speech brought cheers from the partisan crowd, but none of the cheers were so loud as the ones that followed his statement that next January Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the nation’s next president. Franken also had the crowd’s complete attention when he spoke of his 10-college tour of Minnesota last year and his realization that the freshmen were 11 years old when George W. Bush became president.

“They don’t know that the president can be articulate,” he said to laughter from the crowd.

“They don’t know that the government is supposed to work. They’ve seen Iraq. They’ve seen Katrina. ... And saddest of all, they don’t remember when we were the most respected country in the world.”

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