The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled against him, and finally Norm Coleman has conceded the Minnesota state senate race to Al Franken. Hooray for Al, we have a new senator!
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« Unbelievable? | Main | Irwin Neher: Chemistry helps neuroscience: the use of caged compounds and indicator dyes for the study of neurotransmitter release »
Our state's long suffering is over at last
Category: Politics
Posted on: June 30, 2009 7:31 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Dave | June 30, 2009 7:37 PM
Congratulations to Minnesota. It's the Senator Al Franken Decade!
Posted by: MikeS29
|
June 30, 2009 7:37 PM
That asshole Coleman hung on as long as he could. Obstructionalist bastard.
Posted by: MikeS29
|
June 30, 2009 7:40 PM
Or obstructionist....
Posted by: Steve_C | June 30, 2009 7:49 PM
Woohoo! Al will be great!
Posted by: Paper Hand | June 30, 2009 7:50 PM
Almost eight months after the election ... and people complained that the Democrats dragged out the 2000 election!
Posted by: pdferguson
|
June 30, 2009 7:51 PM
And already HuffPo has nearly 6,000 comments on their news article. Really makes us Pharyngulites look like a bunch of slackers...
Posted by: daveau
|
June 30, 2009 7:52 PM
Or obstructionalistavatorvisor...
Go, Al! Thanks for taking the high road.
Posted by: NelC | June 30, 2009 7:56 PM
How much of Franken's working term has this dispute taken up? Is it senators that only serve three years?
Posted by: Tongue of Groucho Marx | June 30, 2009 7:56 PM
I loved the arguments presented against Al Franken by some of my friends. They basically had three arguments:
1. He's an asshole.
2. He didn't spend a term as a state senator, state representative, or hold any other public office position, and this somehow means that he will be ignorant and incompetent in his role as a United States Senator. (Hint: being a US Senator requires nowhere near the amount of preparation it takes to be an American President.)
3. He's going to be the 60th Democratic Senator. We can't have a filibuster proof majority under ANY circumstances, can we?
Posted by: Zeno | June 30, 2009 7:56 PM
Wow! Does this mean I can take down the "Open Senate Races" link at Halfway There? Hurray!
Actually, I think I'll leave it up a few more days. It links to Sen. Franken's fundraising site, and I think Al could use a few bucks thrown in his direction to defray the costs of fighting the GOP's delaying tactics for eight months.
Posted by: Qwerty | June 30, 2009 7:59 PM
I've gone to Coleman's office in the past; so, I got on his emailing list. Hopefully, the email with his (finally) concession speech attached will be the LAST notice I receive from him!
Woot! Go, Al, Go!
Now Coleman has lost to a wrestler (Jesse Ventura) in an election for Minnesota's governor and a comic/writer turned politician for the US Senate. I hope he retires from political life because he's none too popular now!
Posted by: Feynmaniac | June 30, 2009 8:10 PM
I would have loved to see the look on Bill O'Reilly's face when he found out. If Obama were to nominate Keith Olbermann to the Supreme Court tomorrow I honestly think Bill might go on a shooting spree.
Posted by: weedpatch | June 30, 2009 8:11 PM
What disappointment. Coleman-Bachmann--could have been a matching pair for Minisoda.
Posted by: daveau
|
June 30, 2009 8:15 PM
Qwerty-
You know Norm's running for Guv, right?
Posted by: Wet Mogwai | June 30, 2009 8:17 PM
Can the people of Minnesota sue Norm Coleman for obstruction of representation now?
Posted by: Count_01 | June 30, 2009 8:31 PM
Sorry, Feynmaniac, that sounds like a plausible prediction (at #12) until you take into account the prerequisites: large quantities of intellectual, physical, and moral courage, of which O'Reilly has no indication he has ever possessed.
Posted by: Acronym Jim | June 30, 2009 8:34 PM
I can't wait to hear Senator Franken's first address on the Senate floor.
"Sorry I'm late, but I was held up by some obstruction on the election highway."
Posted by: James F | June 30, 2009 8:35 PM
Play Norm Coleman off, Keyboard Cat.
Posted by: Acronym Jim | June 30, 2009 8:39 PM
Better yet - "Sorry I'm late, but a funny thing happened on the way to the quorum."
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | June 30, 2009 8:49 PM
This news made me giddy today. I've held Norman in contempt for so long, it's nice to see him finally thrown out on his ass.
Posted by: ThirtyFiveUp | June 30, 2009 8:52 PM
Congratulations to MN, you now have two Senators, just like all the other states.
A historian verified that Franken is the first comedian elected to the Senate, but Keith Olbermann amended that to, "the first professional comedian."
Posted by: Otto | June 30, 2009 9:15 PM
weedpatch #13
Go to your room!
Posted by: schism | June 30, 2009 9:24 PM
Just for fun, here's Rapture Ready's response to this:
http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=99242
In addition to the inevitable "ZOMG APOCALYPSE" reaction, there's also fun stuff like comparing it to Iran's recent election and the whole thing being a conspiracy to push through Teh Ebil Global Warming Agenda.
Posted by: Kseniya | June 30, 2009 9:24 PM
YAY!!!!!
Posted by: FurrTheBear | June 30, 2009 9:39 PM
Hip hip HURRAH!
Hip hip HURRAH!
Hip hip HURRAH!
I look forward to Senator Franken using his sharp wit to lance a few boils in the Senate....
Posted by: Rey Fox | June 30, 2009 9:43 PM
And here I was thinking that Michele Bachman got kicked out of office or something.
No, this is very good too. A strike against the lying liars who lie. Congrats to Al!
Posted by: ike | June 30, 2009 9:49 PM
Can Al say single payer
Posted by: Michael Simpson | June 30, 2009 9:53 PM
@Schism. Why oh why did you post that link???? I now have to shower. I may have to autoclave myself.
Posted by: inkadu | June 30, 2009 10:21 PM
If anyone works for an airline out there, could you make sure Al Franken and Michele Bachman sit together on one of their flights out to DC? I would love to hear Al's report aftewards.
Posted by: Madame_Furie | June 30, 2009 10:24 PM
@Schism I read some of the posts on the RR thread and found this gem in someone's signature block:
Right. *facepalm*
All else being equal though, I still prefer that explanation over his Jeebus alternative.
Posted by: MikeS29
|
June 30, 2009 10:28 PM
@23
There is a poster named "His Bride."
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit...
Posted by: martha | June 30, 2009 10:30 PM
Thank you baby Jesus!
When a vote is this close there is no real possible way to know who won. They could just as well flipped a coin.
Posted by: Anri | June 30, 2009 10:39 PM
martha sez:
"When a vote is this close there is no real possible way to know who won. They could just as well flipped a coin."
To paraphrase a fictitious democratic mover-and-shaker, 'At the end of the fight, you see which guy is still standin'. And *that's* how you tell who won.'
Good news!
Posted by: MikeS29
|
June 30, 2009 10:39 PM
@#30
And Christianity:
The belief that there was nothing and something happened to nothing when something magically exploded because of a magic man who's always been there, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself because the magic man was lonely and wanted to smell some burning goat flesh and temporarily kill his son to make reparations for his own mistakes and send most of his creations into an eternal fire... Makes perfect sense.
Posted by: Primewonk | June 30, 2009 10:51 PM
schism @23 -
WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING???????
I figure you own several of us clorox mental douches.
His Bride. Greatful4Him. 4evrHis. BrideOfChrist.
Jesus Fucking Christ On a Cracker! Someone needs to man up and go screw these women.
Posted by: Dr. P | June 30, 2009 11:06 PM
schism @23 - Ewwwww! All that time trying to raise my daughters to be critical thinkers, I could have just scared the hell out of them with this link. Certainly a bit of Stepford wives/Bride of Frankenstein thing going on there.
Posted by: Seokso | June 30, 2009 11:29 PM
@23
That site leads me to postulate a rough theoretical formula of christian web intelligence:
B = (1+ASU) / (C(S + P + Q + T))
Where:
B = brain cells represented in the discussion
A = atheist posters
S = the average number of smackdowns posted per atheist
U = number of brain cells in an average human
C = creationist posters
S = smilies posted
P = prayers offered
Q = biblical quotations not used ironically
T = crackheaded conspiracy theories and hints at armed revolt
Posted by: Chayanov | June 30, 2009 11:33 PM
Since Norm is 0-2 against celebrities, who can we get to run against him for governor in 2010?
Posted by: Dahan | June 30, 2009 11:34 PM
@23,
That's just disgusting. Thanks.
Posted by: Paul Lundgren | July 1, 2009 12:00 AM
@Chayanov 38:
Why not PZ Myers? I figure we slant enough Internet polls, let's try crashing the real thing for once and see how we fair?Posted by: John Morales | July 1, 2009 12:14 AM
Paul @40, nice sentiment, but alas, internet communities are virtual and their geographic distribution is global, whereas political electors are restricted to their electoral boundaries. :(
Maybe when World Government is more than a dream, such things will be realistic. I'm not holding my breath, though.
Posted by: Midnight Rambler | July 1, 2009 4:06 AM
@35: Also the fact that the thread is listed under the category "End Times Politics" (alongside such threads as "Drudge picks up on Obama's evil eye", "Beware the Evil Eye", and "The Quran is in - the Bible OUT!") rather than "Breaking News and World Events" says something about them as well. Not that we needed it given the screen names.
Also, I wonder if the person posting as Gideon300 and saying "Welcome to the totalitarian state of America! The un-Godly are now free to do whatever they want" has read The Handmaid's Tale.
Posted by: X. Wolp | July 1, 2009 4:21 AM
@29 There is a possibility that Bachmann may loose her seat as she told her constituents to boycott the census, resulting in an understimation of the populace and thus reallocation of that seat
If my limited knowledge of US politics serves me right at least
Posted by: teammarty | July 1, 2009 4:24 AM
Seems to me like a dumb time for Coleman to quit when he's another step closer to the Supreme Court and a 5-4 victory.
Possible celeb to run against him- Bob Mould of Husker Du (sorry, no umlauts).
Posted by: Sarah | July 1, 2009 5:33 AM
It's about damned time. You were remarkably patient during this whole process, while Coleman freaked out.
So SENATOR Franken, could you make an address just once as Stuart Smalley? Pretty please?
Posted by: Yellow Dog | July 1, 2009 7:12 AM
Back in 2004, I wrote: "Lucky, lucky Illinois, to have such a man for Senator!"
They had him to themselves for only four years, before graciously sharing him with the nation.
Now, lucky, lucky Minnesota! I hope you get to keep Al for a lot longer than four years. You won't mind if we borrow him once in a while for special projects (EFCA, Waxman-Markey, public option), will you?
Posted by: JBlilie | July 1, 2009 8:44 AM
Opening caveat: I voted for Franken and I will be heartily glad to see him in office.
That said, Coleman made a masterful concession speech (albeit 8 months late) yesterday afternoon. I do recommend that you listen to it in its entirety -- I'm sure there are recordings on the web and it's quite short, about 3 or 4 minutes. Go to Minnesota Public Radio, I'm sure they have a podcast up by now.
Coleman will be back, and in my opinion very soon: He will run for governor next year (again). I am hoping for Susan Gaertner, current Ramsey County Prosecutor*. I think she can beat Coleman (and the Dem. competition) but it won't be easy. She and our current Senator and former Hennepin County prosecutor (Minneapolis side) Amy Klobuchar were/are quite a good pair.
(*For non-Minnesotans, Ramsey county is mostly the city of St. Paul, one half of the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and our state capitol. Coleman was once mayor of St. Paul, as a Democrat.)
Posted by: Alyson Miers | July 1, 2009 9:13 AM
@#8:
A Senate term is 6 years, so Franken still has plenty of time to work before it's time to campaign again.
Posted by: KI | July 1, 2009 9:55 AM
Finally, representation for Deadheads in the senate!
Midnight Rambler @42: There are Christians who can read? (I mean with comprehension and understanding of what they are seeing in front of them.)
Posted by: Krisko
|
July 1, 2009 10:48 AM
I was starting to hope they'd just give Amy Klobuchar two votes. I voted and campaigned for Franken, but after eight months I'm just so sick of the whole ordeal.
Posted by: Paul Lundgren | July 1, 2009 12:14 PM
@John Morales:
Such a quaintly old-fashioned system...
OK, I'll stop now. Mostly I was just amused by the prospect of PZ debating a Republican candidate.
Posted by: Tom | July 1, 2009 12:19 PM
#8 - US Senators have a term of 6 years
#43 - Population doesn't matter for Senators. Every state gets two (assuming they have at least two people living in the state). The House of Representatives is divided up by population.
Posted by: Raynfala | July 1, 2009 12:44 PM
@#52:
Tom, I think Wolp's point is that Bachmann is a Representative, and is thus impacted by head-count. He points out an amusing irony: that her exhortions to people in her district to subvert the census process could result in the diffusion of her district to neighboring regions, thereby putting herself out of a job.
Posted by: The Other Ian | July 1, 2009 12:50 PM
Bachmann is a representative, not a senator. I think the scenario of her district being eliminated is pretty unlikely, though, because she actually told her constituents to report only the number of persons in the household, not to boycott it altogether.
Posted by: Sili
|
July 1, 2009 12:52 PM
Happy Monkey!
Posted by: Stuart | July 1, 2009 1:07 PM
About time too. It amazes me in a country like the US that prides itself in it's democracy that someone who is elected fairly and squarely can be kept out of office for so long. Why is there no independent body who can just count up the votes and announce the winner? It's all based on cold, hard numbers!
I don't know anywhere else where a losing candidate can go to court and try and overturn a vote. Here in the UK where we've had an election result that resulted in a difference of votes in double figures and it was all sorted and agreed in a matter of weeks
Posted by: Stuart | July 1, 2009 1:10 PM
About time too. It amazes me in a country like the US that prides itself in it's democracy that someone who is elected fairly and squarely can be kept out of office for so long. Why is there no independent body who can just count up the votes and announce the winner? It's all based on cold, hard numbers!
I don't know anywhere else where a losing candidate can go to court and try and overturn a vote. Here in the UK we had an election result a few years ago that resulted in a difference of votes in double figures. It was all sorted and agreed in a matter of weeks
Posted by: Pickle Pumpers | July 1, 2009 1:46 PM
So anyone have any bets on how long before we find out that Norm Coleman dirty laundry? I've got my money on a week before we find out good old Norm has a gay lover in Vegas to whom he's been married for the past 12 years.
Posted by: Obstreperous Anti-Theist | July 1, 2009 1:55 PM
Now I can say what I've always thought of Norm - what an ass! When I lived in St. Paul he came to my door begging for mayoral votes (against mayor Andy). Before I told him to GTFO, I let the person I took care of shake his hand. The person who would DROOL slimy snot into his hands all the time. Ok, slimy Norm, now GTFO.
Best political moment of my life.
Posted by: Tom | July 1, 2009 2:13 PM
#56 - "I don't know anywhere else where a losing candidate can go to court and try and overturn a vote."
It's a good thing we do allow that because in the original vote, Norm Coleman won. It was only in the recount that Franken was named the winner.
Posted by: Alyson Miers | July 1, 2009 3:00 PM
Am I the only person here who finds it mildly fascinating that so many of us are so interested in the election results in other states? I'm trying to think of how it would feel to have large numbers of people all over the country pay this much attention to the vote counts of Sen. Sarbanes or Sen. Mikulski (both D-MD). I suppose it's a feature/bug of our representative democracy system.
Posted by: pumpkinpie | July 1, 2009 3:05 PM
#60: I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but when Coleman was ahead in the initial vote, Franken (then the loser) didn't go to the court to try and overturn it. The recount that resulted in Franken's lead was mandated by the state because the margin was less than one-half of 1 percentage point.
Posted by: Noni Mausa | July 1, 2009 4:24 PM
Well, that took long enough. 'Bout time.
I watched with an especially eagleish eye because it was my vote -- #312 -- that was the cherry on top of the Franken sundae. I couriered it in, and then sat on the edge of my seat for 8 months.
I'm going to go buy an armchair with a softer edge , before the next election.
Noni
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | July 1, 2009 4:32 PM
So anyone have any bets on how long before we find out that Norm Coleman dirty laundry? I've got my money on a week before we find out good old Norm has a gay lover in Vegas to whom he's been married for the past 12 years.
Garrison Keillor sort of put some of it out there after Norm's victory six years ago:
http://dir.salon.com/story/politics/feature/2002/11/07/minnesota/index.html
Posted by: Bill Dauphin, OM | July 1, 2009 5:40 PM
Thanks for that pointer, MAJeff! I know folks around here are of mixed mind about Keillor, but the man can write.
"[Coleman is] condemned to a life of small arrangements."
How eloquently damning!
Posted by: mothra | July 1, 2009 6:30 PM
While I have NEVER had respect for Norm's views, I could have had respect for him as a person. However, on election night he asked Franken to concede and save the state of MN some money. He held a 45 initial count vote lead. The mandatory recount gave Franken a 300 vote lead and Norm heads to court. Eight months later Franken wins. Norm, what a slime ball, such hypocrisy. Perhaps the state of MN can go after Norm for court costs?
Posted by: Fred Levitan | July 1, 2009 8:13 PM
@#49
Actually, Al Gore was a U.S. Senator.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | July 1, 2009 8:21 PM
Perhaps the state of MN can go after Norm for court costs?
He has to pay Franken's costs.