Al Franken Wins Minnesota Senate Race...Again

If character were oil, Norm Coleman would be a quart low.

He has lost the Minnesota Senate race -- well, he lost it five months ago. He also lost the recount. And the lawsuit. You see a trend here? Norm, buddy, you lost. As the old country song says, "How Can I Miss You if You Won't Go Away?" But Norm won't go away, because his desire to serve powerful interests in Washington is stronger than his love for his adopted state.

Democrat Al Franken has been a class act through all of this. Like most Minnesotans, Al is patient. (I guess you've got to be when you have about nine months of winter.) But this is getting ridiculous. Minnesota has been without a senator for 101 days -- 101 days in which Moorhead, Minnesota was threatened by a disastrous flood. 101 days in which over a trillion dollars of taxpayers' money has been spent. 101 days in which the Children's Health Insurance Program was revamped. 101 days in which energy, health care, education and national security have been debated.

101 days during which Minnesota has had half of its constitutional share of senators. That truly is taxation without representation. To be sure, Sen. Amy Klobuchar has done yeoman's work (yeowoman's? Yo, Woman!?), but the North Star State does not deserve half the representation as, say, my beloved Lone Star State. (Quick aside, you probably already knew Texas was the Lone Star State, but who knew Minnesota was the North Star State? I thought it was something like the Nutmeg State, but Al Franken corrected me. If Al were already in the Senate, everyone would know that Minnesota is the North Star State. I think.)

Every single ballot has been reviewed. The five-person State Canvassing Board (which has only one member who's a Democrat) ruled that Franken won -- unanimously.

Then a three-judge panel conducted an exhaustive, seven-week trial. The evidence, if it were all stacked up, would stand 21 feet tall. The judges ruled -- again, unanimously -- that Franken won and that the election was fair. "The overwhelming weight of the evidence," the judges ruled, "indicates that the Nov. 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially and accurately." The result? The court ruled that Al Franken "received the highest number of votes legally cast in the 2008 United States Senate general election and is therefore entitled to the certificate of election." For good measure, the court even ordered Coleman to pay some of Franken's legal fees and court costs.

Coleman, through his attorneys, says he will appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Should Franken prevail there -- and experts think he will -- he may take his case to the US Supreme Court, where there is at least a proven record of stealing elections from a guy named Al who got more votes.

Even if Coleman takes his case to the US Supreme Court, Franken should be seated in the Senate. Minnesota law calls for the governor to certify an election once all state appeals are exhausted. Cynics think the state's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, may refuse to certify the election even if the State Supreme Court rules for Franken, in order to ingratiate himself with the right-wing of his party for a potential presidential bid. But, let's be honest, if your party has already decided that you're slightly less qualified than Sarah Palin to be VP, they're not going to make you president.

In the end, this is about power. Republicans don't want the Democrats to have 59 votes in the Senate. But the American people do. Like the 2000 presidential recount, this is a contest between the will of the American people and the Republicans' lust for power. Republicans pulled off a judicial-sanctioned coup d'etat in 2000, giving us the worst president in a century. Here's hoping Minnesota's reputation for fairness is justified. Five months after election day, it's time -- way past time, actually -- to allow Senator Al Franken to start job the people of Minnesota elected him to do.

Comments

[Raleigh Dave]

I am quite sure that Norm will not concede until Jesus tells him to.

[Magris]

That's assuming he believes in Jesus. My theory is that those who thump the Bible the loudest in Washington only pretend they are Christians. Their actions, in all arenas, nullify that pretense.

[taotedali]

So since Franken Is 6 months late in getting seated does that mean he gets to serve six months into his replacements term (hopefully sometime in the distance future)

[rfrey]

Come on Norm!! You asked Franken to concede before the recount and you said that if the recount showed Franken the winner you would give up. But here your are, filing appeal after appeal with lobbyists footing your legal bills. YOU LOST, YOU DUMMY! GIVE IT UP! Your self-serving appeals are destroying your political career (if you even have one left) and it just shows that you really don't give a rat's ass about your state. Minnesota need it's Senator...and it's NOT YOU!!!!!! But I suspect you'll keep going until you make an attempt to get your appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. You know something Norm, you're going to lose there too. They won't screw it up a second time with another guy named Al.

[ALC]

Hopefully before this thing reaches the Minnesota Supreme Court Coleman will run out of money. The GOP knows he's toast and lawyers don't work for free. He's doing what republicans do best though....­..........­...PISSING , MOANING AND WHINNING.

[Cyberoptic]

It may be just being hopeful that he will run out of money. Some Republicans may donate the money just to keep another democratic senator from voting.

[henrywolff]

He keeps "winning" because the court keeps deciding the same question, and not the right question. The right question is why they let the democratic districts count all those illegal absentee ballots, when the Republican (law-abiding) districts threw them out?

[henrywolff]

Crime pays, unfortunately.

[MuseScavenger]

Republicans prove that time and again.

[Hugh-Gee]

Um...he doesn't keep "winning." He hasn't been "winning" since the beginning of the recount.

Try again.

[Karl Jonas]

oh i get it, only republicans are "law-abiding." uh huh... right...

[Hydra8]

They are still trying to "Rig" elections ..and again they are using the courts to stall this dog and pony show. Coleman, be a man -admit defeat..you would have more credibility -Jesus tells you to right now.

[ISO9001]

Gov. Pawlenty's office:
http://www.governor.state.mn.us/contacts/index.htm

Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

Telephone: [phone]
Toll Free: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
E-mail: tim.pawlen­ty@state.m­n.us

Just call them on the toll free line, again and again and again. Just hassle them without mercy to seat Al Franken immediately. I will be making that call, and I'm pretty sure it will be lots of fun. Let's ALL do it. Who cares what you say, as long as the calls are coming in non-stop, and it won't cost you a cent. I will call 1st thing in the morning, during break, during lunch, on the way to run errands, in traffic, etc. In short, ANY TIME I have a couple minutes of downtime. I already put both numbers in my phone. You could also try points for style if you're not from MN by using your house phone and dialing *67 1 651 296 3391. The *67 generally hides you from Caller ID. Come on guys. Let's tie up their lines for a week solid. Email is also a viable, albeit less gratifying option. Just write a simple spam with "Seat Senator Al Franken" in the Subject line, and keep sending it.

I am sick of Norm Coleman. I am taking a stand. Who's with me?

[henrywolff]

You would rather have this be settled by harrassment than by the courts? Nice. I can tell you're not from MN.

[Karl Jonas]

the courts have already decided it. give it up...

[booboo111]

It is possible that the thugs have somehow "bribed" him with the promise of a nice consultant / lobbying type of position, and are bankrolling his lawsuits, to keep Franken from being seated for as long as possible.

[henrywolff]

Why would the unions not want Franken seated? Not following you.

[MuseScavenger]

Since when are republicans unionized? I thought they just blindly followed whichever bigot shouted loudest.

[violimo]

Okay, so let's realise Norm won't go away, if he fails in the Supreme Court, what is the Republicans next move?(I'm not from the USA, and not familiar with judicial procedure at this complicated level.)

[booboo111]

Than it goes to the world court before it moves on to an interplanetary body of jurists, and if not decided there, it goes up to the galaxial body, before going universal. It's a long and complicated procedure.

[ISO9001]

If Norm fails in the Supreme Court, he might try holding his breath like a child.

[Hydra8]

He should just be a man - suck up the loss and let the country get on with its business - he is a loser.

[Riani]

I must say I find it terribly ironic that, just after the election, when the first results were made public, and Coleman was marginally ahead, he told Franken that he (Franken) should concede and not challenge the count, for the good of the people of Minnesota!

[GAPeach99]

The media should be replying that reel repeatedly

[Wilbur]

You are right, but the BIASED CONSERVATIVE media will not do so. Too bad we don't have any major liberal media outlet available to run that reel constantly.

Wilbur

[GAPeach99]

Video of that should be replayed regularly and frequently

[henrywolff]

He retracted after about 1 day, well before the tally changed. He acknowledged that he had been up for 48 hours and shouldn't have said it.

[Sepulchre]

So instead for the good of the people of Minnesota, he is pushing law suite after law suite instead of allowing the man who won the vote to be seated. The only person he is conserned about is himself.

[Charlie M]

The Republicans do not care one whit about Coleman winning . Their agenda is to disrupt the running of our government in any way they can ; In an attempt to make the Democrats look bad . They could care less about our country they care about returning the control so they can continue raping the country.

[henrywolff]

Not true, Coleman still has a good chance of winning this thing if he can get them to reexamine absentee ballots from the other districts (mostly Republican). If they do, he wins.

[Hugh-Gee]

Ha.
Dream on.
"Stick a fork in him, he's toast."

[MuseScavenger]

The Monopoly game millionaire wants his top hat back, henry.

[henrywolff]

Or more likely if he wins on equal protection there will be a new vote because there is no way to go back and purge the bad Franken ballots.

[BadgersBite]

Actually the phrase is "Couldn't Care Less" if you say "Could Care Less" it means that you haven't reached the bottom of "Not Caring" yet but if you say "Couldn't Care Less" there is nothing left to care about, you have reached to bottom of caring about it - just saying.

[Hugh-Gee]

The expression, "I could care less," is said sarcastically. Like the phrase, "yeah, right," it is correctly interpreted as meaning the opposite of what the words would literally mean if the inflection weren't perceived.

Why prescriptive grammarians keep bringing up this canard is entirely beyond me.

[PBMac]

You have just one little thing wrong here, you write: "Republicans pulled off a judicial-sanctioned coup d'etat in 2000, giving us the worst president in a century." I say NOT in a century but in the history of our country; by far and away Bush was the worst president ever. Harding at least had the good sense to make an exit. He died in office.

[Ergon]

ALL the votes have been recounted. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7056
Coleman lost. It's now being argued on specious grounds, and Republican whining is becoming booring.

[KansasKowboy]

Franken didn't call for a recount, the vote was so close that MN law calls for an automatic recount when an election is that close.

[daffey]

Imagine someone who lost just hanging on by a thread, demanding recount after recount, even when just about every new turn shows the election is over, and running to the courts hoping they will give you what you lost. Unthinkable. Shameful.

[timinhi]

Gee daffey--I'm not sure what you're referring to. I do know that it was the Republicans (who supposedly believe in States' rights) who "ran to" the U.S. Supreme Ct. in 2000 to overrule the Florida State Supreme Court's decision to allow the recount to continue--when Florida law was clear that the Florida Supreme Court had jurisdiction and the Federal Courts did not. It's always interesting how the right wing hates lawyers and judges and lawsuits until they have need for them. Bullies, liars, crooks and cheats--It's appalling what the Party of Lincoln has come to.

[Mustang Sally]

tooo true.

[daffey]

Or, it was Al Gore (who, according to pundits before the 2000 election, was going to win by the electoral college because, according to Democratic commentators, that is the ‘smart’ way to win), who took it to the courts. It wasn’t the Republicans. One of the greatest myths of our generation: it was Al Gore who sued for the recounts. And after one recount after another recount, when all but a couple gave the numbers to Bush, Gore refused to concede. At that point, it went to the Supreme Court (since that’s what things do if lower courts don’t resolve a problem - like America not having a sitting president), and the court decided down party lines. So, which side was being political? Depends on if you vote Republican or Democrat. What it did show was that each side is willing to do whatever it takes to win, and then becomes shocked - Shocked! - when the other side does exactly the same thing. You are partly right. It isn’t the Right who is hypocritical: it’s both.

[jacobomorales]

A rat is a rat is a rat is a rat...get it? Hopefully the people of MN will have the chance to redeem themselves soon.