Give it up, Norm.

Thank you for this, PZ. Coleman's hypocrisy is getting somewhat trying.

I hope they get a lot of media attention when they deliver the petition. Norm Coleman doens't give a damn what we think.

Give it up Norm, it is time to move on. Too bad the right wing are such poor losers. See - Tea Bag Smoke & Mirrors today sponsored all day by Faux® News.

They don't seem to be very nice or polite folks.

I hope, someday in the future, when there's a Democrat Governor and a Republican gets "elected" to the Senate, that (s)he refuses to sign the necessary paperwork just out of spite. Never happen, though. Unless it's someone with a spine like Franken.

It might be worth looking into a class-action lawsuit against the RNC for disenfranchisement. If anyone can get their hands on internal RNC/Coleman memos...

No matter who you want to be the Senator, in such super-close elections, it is part of the process for either side to bring disputes before the courts to resolve the legal issues. You'd be fooling yourselves if you thought that Franken wouldn't be challenging the results if the situation were reversed. With thousands of absentee ballots uncounted for various reasons, the election could have gone either way depending on what standards for handling the disputed ballots are applied. Coleman is certainly a hypocrite for calling on Franken to concede when he was ahead yet refusing to do so himself now that he's behind. But that doesn't forfeit his right to pursue all legal avenues.

Oh noh!

"Mr. Coleman said he begins each day with ritual Jewish morning prayer to help him though these trying times."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/us/politics/15minn.html

Good thing senators get 6 year terms. Franken's going to be halfway through his before Coleman gives it up.

@Jason TD: Coleman isn't behind, HE LOST; he lost the election; he lost the election contest. If he does appeal the decision, then he, at the behest of the leaders of the Republican Party, is engaging in obstructionism.

I'm hoping Pawlenty will cave and certify after the MN Supreme Court hears the case and lets the results stand. Maybe wishful thinking. Asswipes.

Jason TD:

Just because Coleman has the right to keep suing for his own selfish and partisan reasons doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

You are a traitor to this nation if you seriously think that one man's losing his grip on power, and an entire party's desperation to prevent the world from moving forward is as wrong as forcing Minnesotans to be taxed without representation.

Maybe the petition could be circulated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of New York.

Signed. For whatever good it will do from a non-MN resident.

@7:

...ritual Jewish morning prayer

Is that a euphemism for masturbation, I wonder?

So, I've heard that Coleman will be paying the court costs when he loses. My question is, who's bankrolling him? Is this all coming out of his election fund?

No, it's coming from the RNC who are trying desperately to obstruct another solid Democratic vote in the Senate. If Franken were seated, we'd only have to peel off one of the New England Republican Senators to get things, you know, through the Senate at all.

Pawlenty will obstruct, too, if he ever wants his chance to finish fifth in the Republican Presidential Primary.

Rebelest @ #9,

Coleman isn't behind, HE LOST; he lost the election; he lost the election contest. If he does appeal the decision, then he, at the behest of the leaders of the Republican Party, is engaging in obstructionism.

So, when a criminal is convicted by a jury but appeals, he's obstructing righteous justice rather than pursuing his due process rights? Whatever Coleman's motivation or hypocrisy, pursuing legal recourse is not obstructionist. None of the articles I've found provide enough detail about the facts of the election for a lay person to judge the merits of his legal arguments. I'll leave it to experts and the courts to do that.

Aquaria @ #11,

Just because Coleman has the right to keep suing for his own selfish and partisan reasons doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

I agree with that statement, but whether or not it's the 'right' thing to do is something that is going to be fairly subjective. The closest election I've ever heard of was a race for a county commissioner when I was an undergrad at UC Santa Barbara. After a 2 recounts, the margin of victory for the conservative 'pro-growth' candidate was in the low single digits. It then went to court for over a year before the courts agreed that many provisional ballots in the part of the district that was mostly students were improperly discounted. In the meantime, the conservative rancher was seated and did many things that really upset local environmentalists. We all cheered when the courts finally got it right. It was more than annoying that the court case dragged on that long, but the alternative was a growing distrust in the validity of elections in the county. So would the 'right' thing to do have been for the other candidate to concede defeat? None of the people that supported him and voted for him thought so, which is why he kept going.

You are a traitor to this nation if you seriously think that one man's losing his grip on power, and an entire party's desperation to prevent the world from moving forward is as wrong as forcing Minnesotans to be taxed without representation.

As I was saying, with an election this close, a dispute over which side actually won was inevitable. Every person in Minnesota has a stake in being sure that elections are fair and accurate, and that every ballot is considered using the same standards. That I expect every effort be made to square the facts of the election with Minnesota law hardly makes me a "traitor to this nation." That Minnesota has to go without a 2nd Senator while this is decided in the courts is just part of the price to be paid for a system that ensures everyone's rights.

I voted for Dean Barkley, but I can't stand Coleman, so I signed. I'm so sick of this fiasco.

Maybe they should have settled the election with a good ol' fashioned duel.

Give it up Norm is a good name for a rock band!

Dave Barry WOULD have said this if he'd logged in :)

Here's the thing. These darn petitions don't do anything. They're all the same, so anyone with half a brain can filter them out with a corporate spam filt--

Wait a minute! Wasn't this the guy whose donors' credit cards were left open on the internet?

Quick! Sign the petition before they get a brain! Clog up the mail server and send a message!

JasonTD - Remember a short challenge and then a gracious concession in a Presidential election in order to let the country move forward despite clear irregularities (and doesn't the rest of the world wish that had turned out differently...)?

It's been clear for a while that Coleman's lost. It's nearly half a year after the election. Half a year that that seat has been vacant. It's a disgrace. The recounts were fair enough, but continual challenges and appeals just subvert the whole process.

Signed.

Info on another petition:

UN Watch is seeking non-government organizations (NGOs) to sign on to a petition opposing the current campaign by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to use the UN to promote and legitimize anti-blasphemy laws, typically through measures including the term "defamation of religion."

Follow the link to learn more about the OIC's misuse of the United Nations, to see a list of NGOs that have signed on to the petition, and for the contact info if you lead an NGO that wants to sign on.

http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=13…

Note that there is a wide diversity of groups signed on, including religious organizations that oppose anti-blasphemy laws.

(I'm with DAFT, the group listed at #230, though they didn't use the acronym we mostly go by.)

Maybe somebody should inform Coleman that he's dead?

Charlie B.,

That Senate seat has been open for just over 3 months actually, not half a year. Those elected in November were seated in early January.

We're kind of arguing in circles here. Gore had no real choice but to concede once the US Supreme Court put out its ruling. There wasn't anywhere else to take the legal process. I'm not saying that Coleman should do the same thing (keep going until it reaches the bitter end). Then again, if the Minnesota Supreme Court did rule in his favor, should Franken let it go at that? It just seems pretty clear to me that people here are taking a position based on who they want the Senator to be rather than actual factual and legal issues with the election.

Jeanette...What an important petition to sign. Anti-blasphemy laws are not only unconstitutional in America, they are in general against the values of secular humanism.

The UN has overstepped it's duties here, as it is so fond of doing. It is mandated to serve as a mediator between member-states, not to tell us what we can and cannot say. Despicable.

Actually, I don't really care who wins - I'm not a US citizen. I just think it's vital that elections are completed in a timely manner, and people have representation. (...and fair enough on the seat only being vacant 3 months - but that's still 3 months longer than it should be). The world's first secular democracy and the world's most powerful country seems to be a banana republic when it comes to elections, and it's a source of great disappointment to me (and no doubt amusement to many).

How hard can it be to have simple rules, and mandatory recounts, and postal votes cut off close enough to the election date that all votes cast in time get counted, and for there to be no need to resort to expensive and wasteful legal challenges?

This is BS, PZ. Why should Coleman capitulate? He's down by a few hundred votes out of several million. There's a system that is running its course and it sucks that it's taking a long time, but it's in no way his responsibility to give up.

This is exactly what conservatives said about Gore in 2000.

Hey norm soon you'll have all kinds of time to take the garbage out!