Coleman Must Face the Results
This week it became clear that Coleman didn’t have enough votes for a victory.
I’m speaking, of course, about Norm Coleman of Minnesota. The recount in November’s U.S. Senate is favoring Democratic challenger Al Franken. Humorist Franken is now leading Republican Coleman by 312 votes, an increase over his narrow 225 vote lead in November.
On Tuesday, 351 once-rejected absentee ballots were counted and broke for Franken (source).
In other Coleman news from Tuesday, former Missouri State Senator Maida Coleman did not prevent Francis Slay from becoming the 4th St. Louis Mayor to be elected to a third 4-year term.
Back in Minnesota, Norm Coleman needs to accept the reality that he lost to Al Franken by a tiny margin.
Thanks for writing this one Steve. As a former St. Louisan living in St. Paul, MN, it gave me much joy to see that headline on your blog this morning!
Sounds like the reality is going to be tough for Coleman to chew… There is already talk that he’s trying to move his case to the Supreme Court. If his case were heard by the Supreme Court, it would surely mean Minnesota’s one-senator representation drags on for a few more months.
Coleman DOES need to accept the reality. The people spoke, the state court has verified it, and it’s now time to let Franken make good on his campaign promises.
I’m guessing that, unfortunately, Norm is being pressured, strongly, by the Republican Party, to pursue every option to delay having the Democratic Party gain one more seat – it has little to do with the man and whole lot to do with partisan politics and counting votes!
59 seats still won’t be enough to quash filibusters, and you can bet the Republicans will be gunning for Roland Burris’ seat in ’10. Getting to 60 seats is like batting over .500 for the season, but I would be amused if Carnahan got Kit’s seat.
Whoever you voted for you have to agree that this is a great exercise in democracy- it really shows that the power of small is still alive in politics. A gap of few hundred votes shows you how every vote really does count!
^ i would agree with that if, after the votes were counted, the person who received the most votes actually got to take office and do his/her job. this litigation bullsh*t by the republican party spits in the face of the democratic spirit IMO.
Franken may be the funniest man elected to Senate…maybe this will open the door for David Sedaris, Dave Chappelle, Lewis Black, Patton Oswalt….the possibilities are endless.
Dave Chappelle in the Senate… ha ha ha ha!@!! a ha ha ha!!! That would rule!