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One of the worst kept secrets at this weekend's National Conference for Media Reform at the Minneapolis Convention Center is that Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show sent a crew to record the "real nuts" who are advocating for changes in the media -- "the furthest left people in the face of America," according to O'Reilly. He promises to show footage on Monday of what the crew captured. O'Reilly's teaser suggests it'll be anything but "fair and balanced." On his show he said, "I gotta tell you, these people are crazy."

Noah Kunin from The UpTake has been tracking the crew all weekend as they've been trying to compile footage for Monday's piece. He was there when a producer from The O'Reilly Factor ambushed Bill Moyers after his talk Saturday morning -- or, more accurately, tried to ambush him.

Moyers, uncowed, turned the table on the under-gunned producer, inviting him to appear on next Friday's show. "If you can't come on my show, send somebody below you. Send Bill O'Reilly," he said. "Bill is not a journalist, he's a pugilist."

The indignant producers persisted in his questioning of Moyers, but the PBS mainstay fired back, with a kinder approach. "I like to honor the people who do the real work in journalism; that's the producers and reporters," he said. "It isn't anchors. It isn't blowhards."

The producer's feeble comback to Moyers' anchors-and-blowhards dig: "That's you."

Look for more on this altercation from The UpTake and the American News Project's Davin Hutchins who appears at the end of Kunin's footage.

6/9/08: Minnesota Monitor is now the Minnesota Independent. Check out our new digs.

Well, that was anti-climatic. DFL delegates endorsed Al Franken on the first ballot to run against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. The radio host and comedian garnered support from 62 percent of delegates, just over the threshold required for party backing.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, who received support from 35 percent of voters, immediately conceded and the party faithful endorsed Franken by acclamation. The strong show of support from delegates comes as Franken's campaign has battled weeks of bad press over his tax problems and questions about his past writings. Attorney Mike Ciresi, who dropped out of the race in March, has repeatedly stated that he is considering re-entering the contest.

Franken wasted no time taking on Coleman. "On issue after issue he hasn't brought people together to get things done," Franken said of the incumbent in his victory speech. "He's sold people out to get ahead."

Franken vowed to work tirelessly to win back the senate seat that was previously held by Paul Wellstone. "I'm not a perfect person and I'm not going to attempt to have all the answers," Franken told the convention. "But I'll tell the truth. I will keep my spine. And I will work for you."

There were no surprise nominations from the convention floor this morning. Most notably, the name Mike Ciresi was not uttered by any delegates. That means the endorsement battle will come down to Al Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (unless Mr. No Endorsement shows up).

Among the primary gripes about Al Franken's candidacy in the long lead up to the DFL convention has been that he's not particularly impressive on the stump. For someone who's spent his life in the entertainmbent business he can be surprisingly stiff and rambling.

"When it comes to debates he is very, very poor," says delegate Barb Olsen, for example, who started out a Franken supporter, but was won over by Nelson-Pallmeyer at an early debate. "That's going to be needed in the general election agiainst Norm Coleman."

Franken had a final opportunity to change that perception in an hour-long Q & A session before balloting begins for the DFL endorsement. Given that his support is undoubtedly a bit soft following weeks of negative media coverage, it was also a potentially treacherous event.

Unfortunately for Franken, Nelson-Pallmeyer is no stodgy academic. He's a dynamic speaker who throws out plenty of red meat for the DFL faithful.

The freewheeling debate touched on Iraq, immigration, health care, and economic issues. Franken gave a particularly strong answer when asked why he's a Democrat. He mentioned that his father was a staunch Republican until the civil rights movement. But after witnessing protesters being assaulted by firehoses in Alabama his perspective changed. "My dad said that is wrong," Franken recalls. "No jew can be for that."

Nelson-Pallmeyer used the question to criticize the Democratic party for its feeble conduct in the run-up to the Iraq war. "If Democrats had stood up to the politics of fear we would not be in Iraq today," he stated.

The college professor also sought to differentiate himself from Franken on health-care issues, arguing that we need a national, single-payer health care plan. "It's not enough to say you are for universal health care," he said. "I love my mom and apple pie too, but how do we get there?"

Franken countered by saying he wants to get to universal health care as quickly as possible, no matter what the system. "You don't have to be sick to know that our healthcare system is broken," he stated.

Immediately after the debate, the Franken campaign announced a minor boon for his candidacy: the endorsement of the DFL Feminist Caucus. "Al very strongly demonstrated an understanding of our issues and we know he'll represent us in Washington," said caucus member Jackie Stevenson in a statement. Given recent criticism from female DFL legislators about some of Franken's past writings, this could prove influential with some delegates.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean delivered a 20-minute, meat-and-potatoes speech to the state DFL convention in Rochester this afternoon, vowing to win back the White House and increase the party's margins in Congress.

"Our goal is to end the Bush administration and not allow a third term for George W. Bush," Dean said to thunderous applause. "We honor John McCain's service to America, but he has served enough."

Dean drew the biggest ovation of his speech for condemning the Bush administration's Iraq policies. "Anybody who believes that the American people want to stay in Iraq for another 100 years under any circumstances is badly out of touch with what the American people want," he said.

The former Vermont governor repeatedly linked McCain and Bush, at one point referring to them as "two peas in a pod."

Dean repeated the DNC's announcement this week that it will no longer accept donations from lobbyists or political action committees to bring it in line with the rules governing the Obama campaign. "The American people will set the priorities in the Obama administration, not special interests," he said.

Dean also went out of his way to give a shout-out to the candidate that Obama finally defeated this week. "You have not heard the last of Hillary Rodham Clinton," he declared.

The DNC chairman directed his harshest words at freshman Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann. "That's not a right wing lunatic district," he said of the 6th Congressional District. "That's average hardworking Americans."

After the speech was over, Dean was immediately whisked away and did not talk with reporters.