Live from the DFL convention:

A one-hour question-and-answer period has just ended. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer forces were counting on this one to elevate their guy over Al Franken. From this chair, it looks like Franken more than held his own. The two men were the only nominated candidates.

Franken’s questionable writings only came up obliquely — when Franken himself referenced works such as “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot,” to show his loyalty to Democratic causes. There was no on-point question about the recent “porn” controversy.

Immediately after the Q&A ended, Franken’s forces issued a media release titled “DFL Feminist Caucus Endorses Al Franken for U.S. Senate.”

According to the release, 72 percent of members voted to endorse Franken. Could be a harbinger that today’s endorsement fight will be over sooner than later, though the DFL Feminists aren’t the insurgents Nelson-Pallmeyer’s base is.

During the Q&A, there was some one-upsmanship: Franken proposed retrofitting every foreclosed home for energy efficiency; Nelson-Pallmeyer proposed retrofitting every building.

Nelson-Pallmeyer proclaimed, “Taxes, well-invested, are the key to a good country” and pointedly advocated income redistribution. Franken called the “No New Taxes” philosophy “crazy.

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who’s bashed Franken’s writing, wandered down press row to proclaim a wait-and-see about how Franken would deal with the controversy in his speech, which will happen around noon.

More as things roll out …