Franken challenges O’Reilly to bowl-off

But spokesman says commentator won’t respond

updated 2:30 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2004

NEW YORK - Who’s the kingpin, Al Franken or Bill O’Reilly? If Franken had his way, the answer would be decided with a bowling ball.

On his radio show Wednesday, the satirist-commentator challenged the Fox News commentator to a “friendly” bowling match.

The proposed face-off would be part of The Great American Bowl-Off, a one-day event being organized by the Web site Meetup.com in bowling centers around the country. The Oct. 7 event is designed to give political partisans a breather from fractious campaigning.

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“There’s been a lot of back and forth between the two of us and this is just a good way to clear the air,” Franken said on “The Al Franken Show,” which airs weekdays on liberal talk radio network Air America Radio.

“If Kerry and Bush supporters can put aside their differences for a day to compete, well then, so can Bill O’Reilly and I,” Franken said.

O’Reilly and Franken have squabbled for years. On CBS’ “60 Minutes” interview program Sunday, O’Reilly repeated his claim that Franken is a “character assassin.”

Franken said the bowling match would be an opportunity for O’Reilly “to prove his working class bona fides,” alluding to his frequent claim that O’Reilly exaggerates the impoverishment of his upbringing.

Will O’Reilly accept the invitation?

Rob Zimmerman, a spokesman for Fox News Channel, told The Associated Press: “Bill O’Reilly is not going to respond to anything Al Franken says.”