Maybe, says VanityFair.com. The magazine is conducting an online poll among web readers on ”which female will help pull the GOP out of its post-Bush blues.” Among the dozen women listed as choices: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, conservative pundit Ann Coulter, would-be First Daughter Meghan McCain — and our very own Michele Bachmann of the Minnesota Sixth.

So, who’s winning? As of late Friday afternoon, nearly 19,000 readers had cast votes. The leader going away was Palin with 27 percent, followed by Coulter with 17 percent,  Rice with 15 percent, and McCain and Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe tied with 10 percent.

Bachmann was in sixth place, with 6 percent. She may not catch Palin or Coulter, but she was running ahead of Maine Sen. Susan Collins and former N.C. Senator Elizabeth Dole, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, GOP activist Liz Cheney, and former First Ladies Barbara and Laura Bush.

Not bad company for the second-term congresswoman from Stillwater, whose high-octane interviews on Fox News and MSNBC have raised her national profile by leaps and bounds in the last year.

To check it out, go to http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/06/who-is-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-gop.html

It was a tale of two star cross’d senators from different sides of the political aisle. Their bipartisanship might not have been quite so epic as Shakespeare’s Montagues and Capulets, but Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Republican Norm Coleman sometimes raised eyebrows – if not daggers — in their respective parties. In the days after the 35W tragedy, for example, they seemed inseparable in the press of daily news conferences, to the political benefit of both.

On Thursday, Klobuchar joined a parade of pols who took to the Senate floor to laud their departed colleague, who came up 312 votes short in his reelection bid against DFLer Al Franken. “Senator Coleman made a very difficult decision,” Klobuchar said, “and he did it with such grace.”

In a distinct break with recent Democratic Party orthodoxy, Klobuchar also offered this: “He could have appealed that (Minnesota Supreme Court) decision. He could have gone to federal court. It was his right. But he made a decision which he felt was best for the state of Minnesota, and the state thanks him for that. I personally thank him for that.” Klobuchar went on to give a sympathetic rendering of Coleman’s political career, crediting him as the guy who, as St. Paul mayor, “brought hockey back to Minnesota.”

To be sure, she mentioned some of the lowlights as well, including Coleman’s 1998 gubernatorial defeat to Jesse Ventura, whom, she recalled, Coleman once described as a guy “whose previous career highlight was being killed by an alien creature in the movie ‘Predator.’”  She also recalled fondly how Coleman had reached out to her when she came to the Senate two years ago, and how hard they worked together. “We basically got along from the moment I started to the end of his term as a senator,” she said. Just as striking, she suggested Minnesota might not have seen the last of Coleman. “Norm hit the ground running,” she said, “and he hasn’t stopped.”

No ancient grudges in fair Verona.

Sen. Al Franken, who frequently participated in USO tours overseas before joining the Senate, met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Capitol last night, said Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh.

McIntosh said she could not release further details about the event, which was a bipartisan meeting hosted by Sen. Mark Warner for a bipartisan group of freshman senators.

On his second day on the job, Sen. Al Franken voted against an amendment to a bill which would require 700 miles of fence to be constructed along the Mexican border by 2011.

The measure passed by 54-44 with Democratic leadership largely opposing it - though Sen. Amy Klobuchar voted for it.

On his campaign Web site, Franken dismisses the necessity of border walls. “No wall is high enough to keep people from coming over it – or under it – if there are jobs waiting on the other side.”

Update: Spokeswoman Jess McIntosh wrote in an e-mail that Sen. Franken opposed the amendment because “none of the relevant effective law enforcement agencies were asking for it.”

After two days of formal receptions and press conferences, Al Franken drove across town on Tuesday for a more spirited celebration at the AFL-CIO headquarters. And though many in the national media mourned the death of his wit on Monday, the senator showed he could still entertain a crowd.

Franken, who asked the union group to hold the reception, was joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Walter Mondale, who had stood beside him hours earlier when he was sworn in as senator. With Walleye and fried pickles lying on nearby tables, the crowd howled as Franken entered the building, later holding up enlarged copies of his election certificate.

In contrast to the formalities of the day, the tone was decidedly lighthearted.

“I do bring you greetings from the state of Minnesota,” Klobuchar said. “Where in the words of our poet laureate Garrison Keillor: the women are strong – right Al? – the men are good looking – right Mr. vice president? – and all the recounts are above-average!”

Franken took the stage for 15 minutes, beginning his speech by reflecting on a comment made earlier in the evening about Minnesota’s election lasting longer than the 2000 election in Florida.

“Richard talked about Minnesota taking a little bit longer than Florida. In Minnesota we counted the votes,” Franken said, prompting laughter from the packed room.

Franken also humorously thanked Klobuchar for her participation in his campaign events.

“I must have done 50 or 60 [events]. And if I did 50 or 60, Amy was at 40 of them. And if Amy wasn’t there, her husband John was there, and her daughter Abigail. And if they weren’t there her father Jim – who’s legendary in Minnesota – was there. And if none of them were there I just thought to myself, ‘Why am I here?’”

The bulk of Franken’s speech was devoted to union-related issues. Franken, who is a member of the Writers Guild, the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists, the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild, said he and his wife would not have had health care during the campaign without his union affiliations.

“We need to level the playing field,” Franken said. “The unions built the middle class in this country and what we have seen in the last 30 years or so is the playing field become a steep hill for working families. We’ve seen a great risk shift in this country, and that’s why we need health care reform.”

Franken emphasized that he would work to protect people’s pensions, especially those working for companies declaring bankruptcy.

“We have shifted in this country all the risks in life to working people,” Franken said. “And one of them shouldn’t be that you’re going to lose your pension after building up a pension. A hard day’s work should get a decent day’s pay, and a lifetime of work should bring a secure retirement.”

After being sworn in as U.S. Senator, Al Franken made his way around the Senate chamber, accepting hugs and congratulations and the pen with which he officially signed in.

Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Franken’s committee assignments. He’ll take his seat on the Health Committee as soon as the mark-up is completed, recognizing the complications associated with the bill.  Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse had the assignment temporarily and Reid held the seat open for Franken. He’ll be on the Judiciary Committee which will begin confirmation hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court justice.

 The Senate then recessed.

 Accompanied by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and Vice President Walter Mondale, Al Franken was sworn in as a new U.S. Senator today.

Vice President Joe Biden presided over the swearing in, administered with a Bible that belonged to the Wellstone family.

 At 11:05 a.m., Sen. Amy Klobuchar was recognized and began the swearing in ceremony on the Senate floor. On defeated Republican Norm Coleman, who conceded last week after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling, Klobuchar said: “He did what was right for Minnesota.”

 She points out it has been 246 days since election day.

On Franken: “He brings with him that same energy and passion and idealism as our, friend Paul Wellstone.”

She also addresses the comedy issue: “We all know al has spent some time in comedy but during this long campaign we know he has taken his new job seriously.”

 On the clubby and nuanced atmosphere of the U.S. Senate: “I am confident that Al can adapt.”

 She yielded the floor.

Remember this name: James Pogue. Pogue was the Capitol worker who put Al Franken’s nameplate on the wall of his new Senate office. Was this the most covered public works project since Saddam Hussein’s statue was toppled? The symbolic moment was captured by the local media who could scrape together enough expense account money to send a crew to D.C., of course, but also by dozens of other organizations struck by the significance. See links here  and here to name a few.

Much of the non-local coverage focuses on Franken’s need to prove he is no longer the comedian/satirist: think less Stuart Smalley; more Stuart Symington. This AP lead is an example: “WASHINGTON - So, did you hear the one about the comedian who spent a whole day on Capitol Hill and told no jokes?” Politico has some thoughts here.

In the coming days, watch for the abusive over-use of the Stuart Smalley catch-phrase about being good enough and smart enough and, doggone it, people liking him, as evidenced by Dana Milbank here. The phrase found itself in two places in the Week in Review section of the Times on Sunday.

Construction has begun on the office of Senator-elect Al Franken, who will be moving into Norm Coleman’s former office in the Hart Building. Workers were in the facility today painting and cleaning. No “Franken” nameplate yet, though everything should be in place by Monday.