Scores of blue-shirted Al Franken supporters gathered for a large and noisy rally outside the convention hall this morning before the day’s business began. Addressing them was the candidate, standing on a stairway above the crush of people jammed into the lobby.

“I can’t tell you how much it means to see so many of you,” he said.

Franken’s remarks focused on Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, who Franken hopes to face with the DFL’s blessing starting later today when delegates vote to endorse a candidate. He joked that St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman intended to tell him “some of the secrets left behind” by Sen. Coleman, who was mayor of St. Paul from 1994 to 2002.

One little-known fact, Franken said, is that although Sen. Coleman was twice elected mayor of St. Paul, he won not one single precinct in the city when he was elected U.S. senator in 2002.

“The people who knew Norm Coleman best did not vote for him,” he said. Franken, a self-professed math nerd, calculated the odds on that happening as one in … well, some very large number.

Franken said that the Republicans don’t want him in office. “But guess what? Thanks to you, I’m going to be. And guess what? I’m going to beat Norm Coleman,” he said, to wild applause.

The rally ended with the supporters — chanting “Yes Al can! Yes Al can!” — marching, to the drumbeat of an overturned pail, into the convention hall.

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