Lobbyists of the American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the TV networks are not likely to show up at Sen. Al Franken's "Breakfast with Al" sessions that he holds each Wednesday morning in his office when Congress is in session.

"Better Late Than Never" Franken is public enemy No. 1 to the drug advertising/promotion community for his sponsorship of the niftily named "Protecting Americans from Drug Marketing Act," which wants to strip advertisers of the tax deduction for advertising and promotion.

Franken and Democratic co-sponsors Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) see the measure as a way to raise dollars to offset some of the cost connected with healthcare reform. It was introduced October 8.

Pharmaceutical marketers and their media beneficiaries scream that Franken and his buddies are clueless when it comes to the benefits of Rx ads. Those spots are said to perform a life-saving service to America, urging people of all ages to "Just Ask Your Doctor."

Drug companies aren’t using the ads to hawk products, supporters say with a tinge of piety. Rather they are spending billions to improve the “health literacy of the American health consumers,” Peter Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner, Porter Novelli healthcare exec and now head of the Center for Medicine for Public Interest, told the Oct. 26 Advertising Age.

Pitts dismissed the "anti-health reform amendment as nothing more than grandstanding by a long-time opponent of the pharmaceutical industry (Brown) and a 'Saturday Night Live' alum (Franken)."

Ouch, a Franken smack-down.

My bet is that Franken, a Harvard University graduate, has plenty of grassroots support for getting rid of the deduction, which started out with its heart in the right place but now seems to be funding an endless array of erectile dysfunction ads, remedies for dubious diseases such as restless leg and chronic fatigue syndrome and that new kid on the block, Latisse — approved by the FDA for fuller, richer, longer and darker eyelashes. Life-saving, indeed.

It would be my pleasure to have a bagel with Al.