Al Franken made an impromptu trip to Coffman Union today, where he greeted students for about half an hour, and talked to me. “I think students are really motivated in this election,” Franken said as we stood near the Jamba Juice. “They see their future on the line. I think that they have grown up under Bush…They want change. So, I really believe that students are going to turn out in a big way for Obama and for me.” Franken, the DFL candidate for U.S. Senate, appeared on campus last week with Sen. Hillary Clinton and will hold a rally with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in Minneapolis on Thursday. “Both Hillary and Bill are people who have known me for a long time, and who can vouch for my [strengths] as someone who has been steeped in policy for a long time and who has been committed to certain principles of economic justice and common sense solutions to problems,” Franken said. Kyle Lysford, a cultural studies and comparative literature junior who was studying when Franken approached him, said he was surprised to see the candidate. Lysford said he supports Franken’s Senate bid. “I like the way he thinks,” he said.