In the 2008 Senate Election, Senator Norm Coleman and comedian Al Franken went into a recount in the Minnesota election that lasted for months. One reason: James Niemackl, a mild-mannered Detective in the Hopkins Police Department that decided he had had enough of politics as usual and threw his hat into the ring. As the nominee of the Constitution Party, he garnered enough support to put a dent in the machine– and caused a lot of people to watch Minnesota on the nightly news well into 2009.