no one cares about Coleman, per se, anymore - he is irrelevant. to get the proper pressure this needs to be tied to the MN Republican party, or better still the Republican Party as a whole - sore losers, money wasters, obstructionists, people more about winning what to them is a game than about having real people represented in difficult times, etc etc etc.

If we can get that meme to stick, we can help turn MN more blue, or maybe even push the view of the R's nationally even lower.

The republicans don't care about this country. They only care about themselves. The country has wised up to them, but they don't yet understand that. They are dispicable people behaving in a disgraceful way. If they continue on their path, they are going to continue to lose elctions and the size of their minority is going to be overwhelmingly small. Every stupid thing they do should be secretly welcomed by us and acting as the adult in the room, we will continue to push our agenda for the good of the country. They will be irrelevent after the 2010 election.

For Republicans en masse to give up this fight, the voters, en masse, have to make it explicitly clear to said Republicans that all of their individual political futures depend on them respecting the rule of law.

So in other words, it falls to the people to make our voices heard...

The longer Coleman draws this election out, the more obvious it becomes that he doesn't hold much regard for elections! Go figure, Coleman is merely a citizen trying to hold onto his elected position, but his behavior at this juncture belies his wanton desire for power. Coleman needs to do the honorable thing and concede! -Kevo

I remember hearing (NPR?) that once the lower court ruled, the state would certify the election, and then the winner could take his seat, regardless of the loser's continuing litigation strategies. Is this true?

It will be interesting to see if Coleman and Company sacrifice Pawlenty's presidential bid on the altar of electoral obstructionism.

mmiddle - that once the lower court ruled, the state would certify the election

Not the lower court, but the MN supreme court. At that point Coleman would have to convince a federal court to put an injunction on the certification. That probably won't happen.

mmidle, i would defer to our Minnesotans, but my understanding is that Gov. Pawlenty's last statement was a vague one: that he would allow the appeals process to run, that it would be a couple of months before this is over.

it seems the most likely interpretation of that is that Pawlenty will let the state judicial process run, including appeals until all appeals are exhausted, but may not wait for the federal process before certifying.

of course he will come under huge pressure to wait for the federal process as well.

which is why Reid was a #^$!%#_+@% idiot to use the certification criteria in the Burris case: now he has put himself at Pawlenty's mercy re seating Franken. The Senate should have seated Franken long ago, and certainly should do so as soon as the special 3-judge panel enters its final ruling.

Something tells me nothing the press does will have any impact on Coleman. This isn't about being a sore loser. It's about obstructing Obama. All you need to do, Kevin, is look over your own posts to see that the GOP doesn't care how ridiculous, stupid or seditious it looks. The party has decided it will do just about everything possible to destroy Obama. Some tut-tutting from the media will do nothing to stop them. If the media was tut-tutting. Lord, the way folks like Beck, Gingrich and Hanity spew without comment from the MSN, I'm not sure what would have to happen for this dynamic to change.

IOIYAR -- It's Okay If You're A Republican.

Make that: Anything's Okay If You're A Republican.

I will throw it out there again for any legal minds to pontificate on:

Given Article I, Section 5 of the constitution:

Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members

How can Coleman expect to get anything other than a summary dismissal in Federal court? Arguably, the SCOTUS could intercede in Bush v. Gore because the jurisdiction of contested presidential elections is a lot fuzzier.

But this seems like a slam dunk dismissal...

I dare say if roles were reversed many prominent Republicans would assert Franken's intransigence was indicative of someone with treasonous intentions. Rendition to Syria would be in order. Of course every court and every judge granting Franken the same due process now extended to Coleman would be proof judicial activitism had reached a deplorable apex in our nation's history.

How do the voters of MN feel about this? I suspect that the lack of outrage among MN voters feeds this fiasco. If the Republicans thought there'd be hell to pay electorally in the next few elections for allowing Coleman to hold the Senate seat hostage, they'd pull the plug on Norm.

Since the media is overwhelmingly owned by wealthy Republicans there is definitely a conservative bias in the media!

What was that Coleman was saying on the day of the election? He expected the loser to do the honorable thing and not take it to court?

What was that Coleman was saying on the day of the election? He expected the loser to do the honorable thing and not take it to court?

That's because Coleman thought the loser would be an honorable person (Al Franken), not himself.

This is where the insidiousness of the Blue Dogs come in to play as well as the general weakness of Harry Reid. As long as a 60 vote minimum is a standard any bill is required to pass to get through the Senate, the Republicans can watch a Senator or two pass over to the Democratic side of the aisle during the vote as long as there are Blanche Lincolns to do their bidding for them and vote against sound measures.

Franken being seated means the Republicans have to operate at the utmost of unity to get by Harry Reid. Norm Coleman continuing to be an obstructionist dick is their insurance policy.

@NHCt: Absolutely correct. The Coleman camp's sole objective is to deny the Democrats another vote in the Senate. They will appeal no matter what public opinion may be in Minnesota.

Please help me _i am in serious danger _ c.i.a and Clinton threatened me _my English isnot good enough _ my blog in Arabic explain everything
My blog
http://www.494949.blogsome.com
The name of my blog
Dirty and fucked clinton