FYI, Jennifer Granholm was on "The Dating Game" in 1978
(CBS News) She may have been "fiery" and "electric" on stage at the Democratic National Convention last week, but as a contestant on "The Dating Game" in 1978, former Michigan governor-turned-talk show host Jennifer Granholm was described as "cute and curvaceous."
Newly unearthed video shows a 19-year-old Granholm - now host of the liberal show, "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm" on Current TV - sporting the decade's signature Farrah Fawcett-inspired mane and a pair of suspenders. After introducing the then-aspiring actress as a lover of "theater, the ice, and the great outdoors," the host, Jim Lange, asks, "Is it crazy time?" Granholm: "Oh, you betcha!"
Granholm has recently risen to the tops of news feeds for her animated - perhaps overly so, some political consultants have said - and passionate address to the DNC in Charlotte, N.C., last week, during which she lambasted GOP nominee Mitt Romney and championed President Obama's actions during the Detroit auto industry bailout. Her wild arm gestures and often thunderous volume immediately drew over 500,000 people to YouTube to watch replays of the speech, which has been compared to the scream that foiled Howard Dean's White house dreams in 2004.
"I was high on democracy," Granholm told reporters following her remarks.
As for her new - or at least, newfound- Internet sensation, Granholm is taking it in stride. When a former staffer sent her the link, the Detroit Free Press reports, she responded, "I'm still laughing so hard my stomach hurts."
