by Mark Silva
The election was held Nov. 4.
On June 1, the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear the case of Sen. Norm Coleman versus erstwhile latenight comedian Al Franken, a case which the voters of Minnesota thought they had decided in November.
A three-judge panel has ruled that Franken, the Democrat, beat Coleman, the Republican, by 312 votes -- winning "the highest number of votes legally cast.''
But, under Minnesota law, the seat has remained vacant while Coleman contests the election. With Democrats holding a 58-41 majority in the Senate, the seating of Franken could put them one short of the 60 needed to overcome vote-stalling actions.
Franken, 57, a comedian who appeared regularly on NBC's Saturday Night Live, hosted a national radio program before running. Coleman, 59, a former state prosecutor and mayor of St. Paul, won the Senate seat in 2002 and is seeking a second term.
Maybe they'll get a winner by November 2009.
Comments
How do the poor citizens of Minnesota feel about Coleman's hysterical effort to take down Franken?
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | April 24, 2009 2:19 PM
It's over, Coleman!
Quit sandbagging the people of Minnesota out of their second Senate seat, you hack!
Posted by: Dekalb | April 24, 2009 2:58 PM
Settle it in the ring with Jesse Ventura as ref. Winner's party take all.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | April 24, 2009 3:58 PM
GOP = Got 0(zero) Plans
The party of NO:
--No plans
--No cooperation
--No leadership
--No ideas
--No clue
The wingnut bunch that can't stand "abuse" of the court system unless it's their own abuse for their own political purposes.
On the bright side people are getting a good look (and smell) at the corpse of the G0P in Minnesota.
Posted by: George Costanza | April 24, 2009 4:16 PM
"erstwhile latenight comedian Al Franken"?
Go buy yourself as Associated Press Stylebook and read the section on how to write the titles of Political figures.
It's: The Honorable Al Franken or Senator Elect Franken.
OK, Silva. Your slant is showing.
Posted by: Richard e Massey | April 24, 2009 11:15 PM
al should just take his seat. This is (the only) frivolous lawsuit the repugs whine so loudly about.
Posted by: normusmellbad | April 25, 2009 12:33 AM
Ask not what you can do for your state and country, ask what you can do to feed your enormous ego! I think he's hiding something out there in Washington...
Posted by: lochnessmonster | April 25, 2009 6:57 AM
This stinks to high heaven. The sore loser mentality of the Repugnicants show with Rush, Hannity, Cheney, the entire Fox News Channel, and their backing of this frivolous lawsuit.
Shock jocks such as Rush and Hannity are political hacks at best and intellectuality dishonest advocates at the worst. They form all of their recriminations in questions. If they had any spine, they would actually make statements and stand behind them.
Anyone who voted for Bush twice and stands up with pride when recalling that presidency, ought to be publicly ridiculed.
Posted by: DougH | April 25, 2009 1:10 PM
Is Former Senator Norm just trying to deflect attention from that FBI probe?
At least Tedesco in New York could read the writing on the wall. Norm is an obstructer, pure and simple.
Posted by: Athena | April 26, 2009 11:59 AM
At least it's a 6-year term.
When are the people of MN going to sue this clown Coleman for depriving them of due representation in Congress?
Posted by: Lee Rowan | April 27, 2009 2:03 AM
The people of Minnesota get what they deserve when they elected Al Franken. The rest if the 49 states are laughing at you and will be for some time. I and almost everyone I know will never, ever live or even visit in this maligned state full of crazies.
Posted by: Darlene, PA | April 27, 2009 8:44 AM
Coleman-ize
Delay by any legal means possible, for as long as possible... just because you can, because you have enough money to pay for it!
As in, "Don't Coleman-ize the health care bill; there are millions of folks depending on it's passage!"
Perhaps Coleman would "exchange" a pardon on his many wrong doings for admitting that he has indeed lost the election! Then MN would get it's Senator and also they would not have to pay to keep Coleman in Jail! In the "olden" days Coleman would have been told to get out of town, but these days perhaps someone will throw in a few tickets to Disney World, so Coleman can continue his fantasy quest or maybe he would fit right in in AK with Falin' Palin & Stevens.
Posted by: CaptD | April 27, 2009 12:30 PM
Now, with Alan Specter leaving the party of the top 1% and joining the party of the other Americans, the Minnesota Supreme Court decision is ever so more important. Potentially the health care for 41+ million Americans are riding on this decision. It's a decision of life or death for many Americans. ...
Vivifiant, Ohio
Posted by: vivifiant | April 28, 2009 1:44 PM
I see this post has made a big impact with the uninformed idiots demographic. Look, Coleman won the initial count. In the recount there were disputed ballots that the two sides were each supposed to put forward which ballots they believed could be proved to be valid. Coleman made an honest effort to identify the correct ballots, and Franken took the approach of "well, all the ones with my name on them must be valid and the other ones must not." Of course he won when he essentially tried to stuff the boxes, which is the reason for the court challenges. Who is really trying to cheat the people of Minnesota here? I think it's pretty clear.
Posted by: Alex | May 5, 2009 9:41 PM
Norm Coleman is as likely to win the Minnesota Senate seat as Sean Hannity is to be waterboarded (he should be waterboarded by an Iraqi, by the way). Hannity claims the waterboarding is for charity,... one that profits his checkbook I wonder. It is time to quit wasting all this time and money and declare the inevitable outcome: "Franken Wins Senate Seat Vacated by Coleman."
Posted by: Sarvo Monopolis | May 6, 2009 2:57 PM
That "uninformed idiots" post is so ironic it's almost amusing.
1. Coleman initially wanted Franken to ask that an AUTOMATIC recount NOT be done.
2. Coleman initially didn't want ANY absentee votes counted and then did his best to get as few counted as possible.
3. Coleman suddenly changed his mind about what absentee votes should be counted as soon as he fell behind.
4. More 'voter fraud' was found from Coleman voters during the election contest (though only a couple votes).
5. Coleman and supporters keep trying to claim partisan bias against them when at least half of the officials presiding over the election are Republican and stand by the results.
It looks like Franken's the only one playing by the rules...Coleman just wanted the rules changed as soon as he fell behind. You can't really fault Franken for trying to make Coleman stick to the rules (especially the ones Coleman insisted on earlier). Don't be a hypocrite and say you would think the same if the roles were reversed...and don't be a sore loser either.
Posted by: Steve J | May 7, 2009 8:51 AM
One thing is for sure, IF Franken gets the seat, it will be his best comedy act ever !
Posted by: gary | May 30, 2009 12:48 PM