Comedian Al Franken calls his political action committee Midwest Values PAC, but a list of its contributors shows that it’s not drawing much support from the Midwest.

Donors of $5,000 include former talk show host Phil Donahue, writer-actor Larry David, film executive Harvey Weinstein, directors Barry Levinson and Peter Farrelly, New York writers Nora Ephron and Nicholas Pileggi, and Real Networks CEO Robert Glaser.

Monday, Aug. 14, 2006 4:29 p.m. EDT
Al Franken's PAC: Few Midwest Donors
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/8/14/163330.shtml

The list of contributors to comedian Al Franken's political action committee reads like a celebrity who's who: singer Barbra Streisand, writer-director Nora Ephron, actor-writer Larry David and actor Jimmy Smits.

Franken, who hosts a radio show on the liberal Air America Radio network, is considering challenging Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., in 2008. Franken moved his show from New York City to Minneapolis earlier this year, fueling speculation of a possible bid.

Among the contributors to the PAC were actor Larry Hagman, directors Christopher Guest and Barry Levinson, and writers Harold Ramis and Aaron Sorkin.

From the NewsMax.com Staff For the story behind the story...
Friday, July 28, 2006 7:18 p.m. EDT Al Franken's PAC Packed with Stars
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/7/28/191932.shtml?s=po

Last night, a stylish crowd of about a hundred Democrats gathered at the enviable East Village Manhattan loft of photographer-filmmaker Gregory Colbert for a fundraiser for Barack Obama. The event, which featured a distinguished lineup of speakers culled from the arts, raised $45,150 for the Democratic presidential candidate. Guests talked politics, sipped Prosecco, and admired the lush, dreamlike environs as gorgeous moving images from Colbert’s films were projected onto an exposed-brick wall in his soaring studio space. After an introduction by Scottish actor Alan Cumming, Alec Baldwin, E.L. Doctorow, Calvin Trillin, Nora Ephron, Australian novelist Peter Carey, and Jonathan Lethem took turns at the podium to entertain the audience (which included lawyers, artists, writers, and the rapper Q-Tip) and comment, with different degrees of directness, on the situation America finds itself in today.

Elephants in the Room at an Obama Fundraiser by Christopher BatemanOctober 7, 2008, 6:16 PM
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/10/elephants-in-the-room-at-an-obama-fundraiser.html