DFL Senate candidate was joined by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a rousing rally at the University of Minnesota, in what Al Franken termed as “a true statewide grass-roots campaign.” Franken is waging a tough battle against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, and Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley.

More than 1,500 supporters crammed into the McNamara Alumni Center of the University campus, and more than 600 were in an overflow room and outside.

Stumping for the election of comedian-commentator-candidate Al Franken to the Senate, Clinton urged the voters to turn out Democrats on Election Day. Clinton hailed Franken as a fighter who is not afraid to battle those who he sees standing in the way of middle-class families, like the one in St. Louis Park in which he grew up.

Clinton’s acquaintance with Franken dates way back to Bill Clinton’s election to the presidency in 1992. During the Clinton years, Franken directed a five-minute parody of the movie ‘Forrest Gump’, starring the then-First Lady. The lampoon brought down the house at the annual Gridiron Club dinner.

In backing Franken, Clinton gave a full-throated endorsement of the comic who earlier this year was facing allegations that a guest column he penned for Playboy Magazine was demeaning toward women.

The former first lady also said to the voters that the goal should be to make Barack Obama president, and give him a filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate. She said to the massive crowd: “Unless we reach 60 votes in the Senate, we won’t end the Bush era. Al Franken, with your help, can be our 60th vote.”