A long-ago humorous wall plaque featured art work of a woman doing three things at once in her kitchen, none of them successfully, above a caption that read, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”
If we could find one of those plaques, we’d send it to Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who today — to no one’s surprise — suffered the latest court defeat in his never-ending quest to hold on to his former Senate seat.
The judicial panel dismissed Coleman’s central argument that the election and its aftermath were fraught with systemic errors that made the results invalid.
“The overwhelming weight of the evidence indicates that the Nov. 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially and accurately,” the panel said in its unanimous decision.
The panel concluded that Franken, a DFLer, “received the highest number of votes legally cast” in the election and “is therefore entitled to receive the certificate of election.”
Coleman’s sore-loser odyssey began just after the election when, going into the recount, he was ahead by 215 votes. After the recount, Coleman trailed Democratic challenger Al Franken by 225 votes. Coleman then demanded and got a review of the election by a three-judge state court. Along with today’s ruling, Coleman emerged 312 votes behind.
Coleman has 10 days to file an appeal with the state supreme court. He reportedly intends to do just that. He can simultaneously or later press on to federal court. However, Coleman might find the path ahead booby-trapped by the state court judges.
University of Minnesota political science Prof. Lawrence Jacobs called the ruling “a judicial slapdown.”
The panel, Jacobs said, is telling appellate courts down the road that Coleman doesn’t have a case.
“This is judicial speak for ‘nothing here,’ and it is most definitely aimed at the appeals process. It’s a signal that they are supremely unimpressed by the Coleman case.”
At some point — sooner rather than later, we predict — Minnesotans are going to tire of Coleman’s sore-loser, drag-it-out antics. They’re also going to decide they’ve gone long enough being represented by one overworked senator, Amy Klobuchar, and her overworked staff.
When that happens, look for reporters to start tying Coleman’s unwillingness to accept his loss with Senate Republicans’ intention to deny Democrats a 59th member of their caucus. At the same time, look for newspaper editorials and broadcast commentaries to start blasting Coleman for being a sore loser who lacks the character and grace to acknowledge defeat and get out of the way.
Ultimately, Coleman is likely to find he’s playing the spoiler for the benefit of his former Senate Republican colleagues at the expense of his own political future. He’s probably going to want to run for the Senate again. He might want to run for governor some day.
Come that day, Coleman is likely to learn a painful double lesson. First, people can have long memories. Second, people don’t like sore losers.
Boy oh boy are Republicans hating life on this one. This loss won’t be easy for them to take. Not so much because it gives Dems a 59th vote, but because he stands for everything they are against.
DB, you’re right about Republicans’ distaste for having another Paul Wellstone, in the fine form of Al Franken, in the Senate. But don’t underestimate how much Senate Republicans don’t want the voting balance tipped any more toward the Democratic side.
Oddly, in his earliest career days on SNL, I never found Franken particularly funny. Maybe just as well since I’m much fonder of him as a liberal politician who isn’t embarrassed to be a liberal and who knows how to make his points.
Maybe Norm Coleman is trying to set a record for longest-running sore loser. Unfortunately for himself, he has a long way to go.
A few years ago in Orange County, CA, “B-1 Bob” Dornan lost his re-election bid, after umpteen terms in the House. It was a close call, and he spent the next two years disputing the results at the top of his lungs. After 2 years, he ran for the House again, against the same person who had barely defeated him, and he got trounced.
Maybe this will give Coleman something to strive for.
What I wanted to know, and which the media didn’t tell me, was how long it took the three judges to look at each other, look at Coleman and boom “Case Dismissed! Next!”
I’m guessing 3 seconds. Oh, but Normy will appeal to the state supreme court…if they will even hear his pleas, that is.
Jeff, I found the political humor and satire on Franken’s Air America show funnier than his work on SNL, although I caught a lot more of the former than the latter. Humor aside, he’s well informed on the issues and his position on issues is excellent. Anyone who thinks he’s just a comedian is in for a surprise.
Tom, I remember Dornan. I’m so glad voters decided to elect him private citizen. I’d be willing to bet his hanging on for two years had a lot to do with that.
Bee, I know what you mean, LOL. Actually, it’s good the judges didn’t do that. If they had, Coleman could’ve used it to justify his appeal.
The folks at fivethirtyeight.com have the goods on this race. Coleman’s behavior is disgraceful, in my humble opinion. Contrast that to Al Gore’s grace and dignity when he was denied the race he demonstrably won in 2000. Sure Coleman had every right and even a responsibility to his supporters to be sure that the will of the voters was heard. But even though it was an incredibly close race, it is clear that Franken won. Norm! It’s time to throw in the towel.
Norm should be happy, now he can go back to smoking up like he did in his long-haired days.
Terrell, I thought at the time Gore actually bowed out a little too soon, especially given the phony “demonstrations” the GOP staged. But yes, he showed character and class — things not in Coleman’s game plan.
RG, I had no idea. It’s a bizarre prospect.
…he was ahead by 215 votes. After the recount, Coleman trailed Democratic challenger Al Franken by 225 votes.
I don’t believe for an instant that if these roles were reversed, we would ever hear the end of it from Democrats.
Contrast that to Al Gore’s grace and dignity when he was denied the race he demonstrably won in 2000.
Gore might have shown grace and dignity, but he demonstrably LOST the race and we have heard unending carping about it since.
Indeed, RSF, but had the Supreme Court not chosen what turned out to be the worst president in U.S. history instead of Gore there would’ve been much less carping.
I’m glad Franken has been declared the winner in a court of law. It is a victory for the great state of Minnesota and for America!
Let’s get Coleman out of there, and then see if someone can get Michelle Bachman out of Congress as well. I think she is a virtual poster child for just about all that is wrong with the GOP in its current incarnation.
Snave, agreed about Bachmann. Coleman, however, has a legal right to drag this out to the Minnesota Supreme Court and on to the federal courts. He intends to do just that. No class, no shame, just a total political turd.