Coleman/Franken Monday Roundup 4/13

Aaron Keyak — April 13, 2009 – 4:05 pm | Congress | Democrats | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

Coleman/Franken Monday roundup:

UPI: Senate seat fight drags on

There is no clear end in the fight for Minnesota’s second U.S. Senate seat, say political strategists who predict the case could drag on for months

NJDC Blog: Franken’s Lead Grows to 312 After Recount

Despite all Coleman’s efforts, Franken still received more votes in their race for U.S. Senate - in fact, Franken’s lead has increased…Franken won, Coleman lost, let’s move on.

USA Today: Coleman vs. Franken

On a deeper level, though, this case is sadly emblematic of the dwindling sense of public service among aspiring public servants. Minnesotans, who take pride in the state’s reputation for civility, are clearly tiring of the ordeal. Yet the win-at-any-cost struggle continues, prodded by partisans and parties.

It is a far cry from 1960 when Richard Nixon, of all people, walked away from an election loss of barely 100,000 votes nationwide instead of contesting results in Illinois and Texas, as some Republicans urged. The Florida recount replaced that noble precedent with something less honorable. Since 2000, the average number of lawsuits brought over local, state and federal elections each year has more than doubled, from 96 to 234, according to Richard Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in California.

The further Coleman’s case goes up the judicial ladder, the more strained its reasoning sounds. It is one thing to ask a trial court to review the work of election authorities to make sure they carefully followed the law and their own guidelines. It is another to say that in making a series of tough calls on individual ballots, they grievously violated some important legal or constitutional principle.

MPR: Pawlenty hedges on signing Senate election certificate

Gov. Tim Pawlenty won’t commit to a timetable for signing an election certificate in the state’s drawn-out U.S. Senate race.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has already said an election certificate could not be issued until Republican Norm Coleman’s election lawsuit plays out in state court.

On MPR’s Midday program today, the Republican governor said a number of hurdles stand in the way of his signing off on the election certificate.

MyDD: State Supreme Court Justice is a Norm Coleman Donor and Should Recuse Himself

Well, one of the remaining Justices that will decide Norm Coleman’s electoral fate is a two-time Norm Coleman donor!  Heck, one of the two contributions occurred in the six years leading up to Coleman’s 2008 re-election bid - in other words, it was put toward this very election whose result Coleman is preparing to appeal.  This is a crystal clear conflict of interest.  Justice Dietzen should recuse himself from any Coleman appeals to the state Supreme Court in order to prevent the (rather obvious) appearance of bias.

NJDC Blog: “Republicans Urging Coleman To Keep Fighting Attacked Gore Over Recount”

In Sam Stein’s most recent Coleman piece for The Huffington Post he notes, “just how far the Republican Party’s position has evolved from the last big poli-legal recount drama: the 2000 presidential race in Florida.”

Sounds reasonable. Lots of GOP positions have “evolved” over the years. (See: “How many ways can Senate Republicans show intellectual hypocrisy?”)

I’m sure this evolution has some intellectual basis beyond partisan opportunism.

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