I’m guessing that he will concede, and pretty soon. As noted above, he doesn’t have any really viable options, no paths that lead to Sen. Coleman, (R-MN). Seems to me the tension is developing between the Pubbie leadership and Norm!. Having lived amongst these jug-eared squareheads these many years, they are not very forgiving when it comes to WATBs, and Coleman knows this. Concession at least preserves some dignity.
But the national Pubs want to stick a thumb in the eye, they want to delay the effectiveness of one more progressive vote as long as possible. And they’ve used Norm! to the extent possible, they can peel him off their collective dick and flush him, why should they care if their strategy sinks his future, far as they’re concerned, he doesn’t have one. They picked him and groomed him, they can pick another just as easily.
So if Norm! reaches between his legs and discovers a micro-nut in his withered sack, he will tell the Pubbie leadership to kiss his New Yawk ass, and concede. I think he will.
(Note: I did not employ my awesome telepathic powers to read Norm’s mind, there are sacrifices I am not prepared to make…)
I don’t think so. Whenever something controversial came up, both the SC and the CB punted until later. They knew there was going to be a lawsuit regardless of the outcome, so why try to settle the issues now?
(Most of those court decisions you read in the STRIB didn’t go against Coleman, they simple said that the CB didn’t have authority over it and that it would have to be settled in court.)
Nothing controversial came up. You’re technically right that the Minnesota Supreme Court said a couple of issues should be decided in an election contest, but that doesn’t mean that Coleman’s complaints actually have any validity, and they don’t, and he knows it.
I didn’t vote for Jesse but he did exceed my limited expectation at first. In other words, I don’t think he was that bad
He did, as another poster said, have a very thin skin and tended to pout like a hurt boy sometimes.
As his term went on…he got ‘worse’. He turned into a Democrat. (or to be fair a new Republican…Spend and Spend rather than Tax and spend and spend)
One thing I think negatively of him for is that he was a coward. He had a good chance of winning a second term and he refused to run and it sure seemed it was because he didn’t want to lose. I.e…a coward.
Nope. I’m speaking with actual knowledge of the results – something Coleman didn’t have in November.
And will be determined with ease. Everything was so transparent and verifiable in this process that Coleman’s suit will go nowhere. The canvassing board was bi-partisan and vitually unanimous on every decision. Every decision about every ballot was made on camera and broadcast live. The majority of Minnesota Supreme Court Justices are Republican appointees. The Governor is a Republican. Coleman is going to have a very hard time identifying any kind of cabal or conspiracy to discredit the result.
Not when I, as a citizen of the state, have to pay for them.
If the man wants to privately drink himself to death, that’s one thing, but here Coleman seems intent on depriving the people of Minnesota their proper representation in congress. That’s not fair.
No he doesn’t - if there were improprieties - he wants to make sure the people do get their proper representation. I don’t think that there were (and according to the friends I know that know him, neither does he), but he does have the right to pursue this to the end. Whether that is in his best interests depends on what he hopes his future is.
Norm is self serving, but he isn’t an evil human being.
Its a shame from a confidence standpoint that the election was this close and the recount flipped the result. No matter who was seated, a close election doesn’t scream mandate - and flipping leads to the perception that it could have gone either way (and it could have - something as stupid as the weather or traffic could have changed these results - certainly Dean Barkley was a wild card with things this close). No matter what the recount results were, someone would claim they are tainted. However, I think (and I’ve thought this about Florida and Bush) that once it is done (and it won’t be done until the contest is over) that we owe it to our government and ourselves to live with the results of the process with as little whining about it as our self discipline allows. (I’ve whined a few times about the Florida recount - I’m an independent who sits liberal).
If Coleman honestly believe that he is the legitimate winner of the election and that Franken would serve the people of Minnesota differently than he would, then it is completely appropriate for him to prevent Franken from being seated by all legal means.
We know the basis of what will probably be the election challenge. The 133 votes in Dinkytown (Which would take away 49 votes from Al) could easily go his way, as could the Ramsey County (was it Woodbury?) votes (which I think would give Norm around 20 more votes). I don’t think they will, but I’ll count it as possible. Every commentary I have seen about the duplicate ballot issue has me convinced that these were simply overseas ballots on plain paper that had to be transferred to the card stock, and that it was obvious which were duplicates and which weren’t, so that dog won’t hunt.
So I see the sole hope of Norm in the cherry picked Coleman ballots that he says were incorrectly refused, even though the canvas boards of the counties along with representatives of the candidates have gone over them twice. I don’t see that adding up to 225.
The difference with Florida is that the hand recount was halted there by Bush’s campaign chair. In MN it went all the way to the finish. Former Senator Coleman wants more votes counted, of course, but those are absentee ballots that local election officials still hold were rightfully excluded. That’s quite a big change from his earlier position that none of the excluded absentee ballots should be counted.
I also noticed Franken made reference to closeness of the election, reached out to those who didn’t vote for him and took time to praise Coleman in his victory speech yesterday. He didn’t use the words “step back” or accuse Coleman of wasting the taxpayer’s money.
Now I see former Governor Arne Carlson has called on Norm “Step Back” Coleman to give it up. I’d be damned surprised if he did, however. If nothing else, his challenges can prevent Franken from being seated for some time. That would provide a petty measure of satisfaction for a man who has always claimed to be above party politics and who puts MN first.
Yes, and even if Coleman believes that, it’s perfectly appropriate for those who do not believe as he does to berate the man as a deluded obstructionist egotist. Whatever Coleman’s beliefs may be, his actions are depriving Minnesotans of representation.
I’ll be honest, he could go either way. I could see him conceding and I could see him dragging it out. it depends on whether he can recognize that challenges will just be to spite his own face.
So, all you Pubbies were going to crucify Franken over the possibility that he would drag this out using every legal means, and now that it’s Coleman’s turn, that tactic is hunky dory? Really? Really?
I think a concession might actually be possible. There’s a lot I don’t like about Norm, but he doesn’t lack for either intelligence or political savvy. I’m sure he knows he can’t win a court contest (his lawyers must have told him by now), and I’m sure he knows it will only build more ill will towards him in the state. He’s also got a federal investigation to worry about. He may actually decide it’s not worth it.
Then again, he’s also got a huge enough ego that it might override his good sense.
