as a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. Since 2005 he has been a contributor to The Huffington Post. Franken toured Iraq several times with the United Service Organizations (USO). On March 25, 2009, he was presented with the USO Metro Merit Award for his ten years of involvement with the organization. Political activism According to an article by Richard Corliss published in Time magazine, "In a way, Franken has been running for office since the late '70s." Corliss also hinted at Franken's "possibly ironic role as a relentless self-promoter" in proclaiming the 1980s "The Al Franken Decade" and saying, "Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did!" In 1999 Franken released a parody book, Why Not Me?, detailing his hypothetical campaign for president in 2000. He had been a strong supporter of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone and was deeply affected by Wellstone's death in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 election. Wellstone was a mentor and political and personal role model for Franken, who stated his hopes of following in Wellstone's footsteps. Senator Norm Coleman's comment that he was a "99 percent improvement" over Wellstone was an impetus for Franken's run for the Senate. Franken said he learned that 21% of Americans received most of their news from talk radio, an almost exclusively conservative medium. "I didn't want to sit on the sidelines, and I believed Air America could make a difference", he said. In November 2003 Franken talked about moving back to his home state of Minnesota to run for the Senate. At the time the seat once held by Wellstone was occupied by Republican Norm Coleman. At a 2004 Democratic presidential campaign event, Franken tackled a man who was allegedly threatening other attendees and heckling Governor Howard Dean. In 2005 Franken announced his move to Minnesota: "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run, but I'm doing the stuff I need to do in order to do it." In late 2005 he started his own political action committee, Midwest Values PAC. By early 2007 the PAC had raised more than $1million. Franken was the subject of the 2006 documentary film Al Franken: God Spoke, which The New York Times called "an investigation of the phenomenon of ideological celebrity." Franken initially supported the Iraq War, but opposed the 2007 troop surge.