There are measures on school lunches, household products, service dogs for wounded vets. On his 100th day in office last week, he helped unveil a bill to extend country-of-origin labeling regulations to dairy products.

"A lot of these are commonsense things," Franken (D., Minn.) said while sitting beneath a photo of his late friend and mentor, Sen. Paul Wellstone. "A lot of these are about improving people's lives. That's what Paul said politics is all about."

It's becoming clear that to Franken - who made his entrance after the partisan rumpus of a 312-vote recount victory - discretion is the better part of valor as he feels his way into the complex web of relationships that make up everyday life in the Senate.

He has spent more time building bridges than scoring points. The favor has been returned by GOP colleagues in the Senate, where collegiality is the stratagem of choice.

Generally, Franken, 58, has proven adept at keeping his head down and avoiding the political paparazzi waiting for the former Saturday Night Live personality to do something funny or outrageous. Those who expected the caricature from GOP election-season attack ads of a fire-breathing partisan have been silenced - or they're keeping their powder dry until the next election.

Washington observers say they've seen this movie before. Franken's super-serious persona comes straight out of Hillary Rodham Clinton's script on how to play down celebrity in the Senate: Work hard, move cautiously, pick your shots.

"There's very much a parallel with Clinton, who was seen as Lady Macbeth," said Washington political analyst Norman Ornstein, a Franken friend and adviser.

The result is that Franken has spent his early days in office relatively free from the Republicans' leave-no-flub-unexamined treatment he got before he was sworn into office.

"He hasn't provoked them, so that certainly helps," said Mitch Pearlstein, founder and president of the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in the Twin Cities.

Franken, an actor and author, has gone three months in the Senate without appearing on a national TV news show. He generally turns down interview requests from national publications.

Politically, he has championed standard liberal causes such as expanded unemployment benefits, college loans, and the Household Product Labeling Act, which would tell parents if products they use could harm their children.

This month, Franken took to the Senate floor to manage debate on his amendment ensuring that military contractors can't force their workers who are sexually assaulted on the job into arbitration, as opposed to their suing.

The amendment passed 68-30, with the support of all the women in the Senate, including more than a half-dozen Republicans.

The next day, Franken confronted Mark de Bernardo, executive director of the Council for Employment Law Equity, who was testifying in favor of arbitration. A testy exchange over statistics ended with Franken appearing to cut off de Bernardo midsentence.

To Ornstein, the episode signified Franken's growing comfort level. "I saw it as artful, tough questions that certainly took the guy aback," he said.

Since his July 7 swearing-in, Franken's press clips have largely shed the "funnyman gets serious" theme featured during the protracted recount. By all accounts, Franken's early discipline has paid off.

"I've been struck by how unflamboyant he's been," Pearlstein said.

Franken sent an unmistakable message with his first piece of legislation: the Service Dogs for Veterans Act, establishing a pilot program to pair 200 wounded veterans with service dogs from nonprofit agencies.

Filed after his second week on the job, the bill was noted less for its utterly nonpartisan nature than for its chief cosponsor: Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson, rated one of the most conservative members of the Senate. The bill passed in 48 hours.

Franken also sought out a Republican partner - Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski - for a recent initiative to help more children afford reduced-price lunches.

He has burnished his liberal credentials most forcefully on health care, staking out a clear position in favor of a government-run public option.

Bigger things could be on the horizon, including a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in December. But for now, Franken says his focus is on the minutiae of everyday legislation.

"I'm really interested in doing the work," he said. "That's why I ran."