Norm Coleman formally announces he’s contesting Senate election

[sabra]

Source: MinnPost

Sen. Norm Coleman said minutes ago that he will contest the result of the 2008 U.S. Senate election and take the result to court.

Coleman lost the final vote recount by 225 votes to Al Franken, who Monday declared victory after the State Canvassing Board declared he had won the most votes.

Coleman made his announcement at the State Office Building in a room across the hallway from the offices of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who chaired the Canvassing Board.

Read more: http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2009/01/06/5634/norm_coleman_formally_announces_he%E2%80%99s_contesting_senate_election

[aquart]

1. Which will take him what? Six years?

[proud progressive]

17. any other comedians in congress? seriously, how long should this take?

[geardaddy]

32. If you count Gopher

from the Love Boat in the House?

Except he's not funny.

[jmowreader]

47. He's not in Congress anymore, either

He was first elected in 1986 and served four terms. If he decided to run today, he'd almost have to run as a blue-dog Democrat because he's too liberal to be a New Model Republican.

Then again, Barry Goldwater is too liberal to be in today's Republican Party, so saying Grandy's too liberal to be a Repuke anymore isn't saying much.

[geardaddy]

61. Yep. I wasn't sure if he was.

I didn't know what kind of legislator he was, but I knew he was a Republican.

[No Elephants]

53. Franken is not only a comedian, but a writer of comedy (and other things), whereas Gopher

acted (kind of) in a light TV show. And does not seem especially creative, funny or intelligent.

[geardaddy]

62. Yep,

I knew he was much more than a comedian. His books, his radio show, his political involvement much earlier on than most people realize.

[No Elephants]

64. When someone can make me laugh, I almost assume he or she must be fairly intelligent. It ain't easy

[geardaddy]

2. I totally expected him to not go quietly.

Prick.

[ellie]

3. Awesome!

I look forward to his further public humiliation.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. Understandable.

Likely to do anything? Nope.
Understandable? Yep.

[niyad]

5. and gee, wasn't it him, or the repuke party, who warned al franken not to contest the results? can

we say HYPOCRICY?????

[Stuckinthebush]

23. Or hypocrisy

I know, I know...spelling police!

But yes, it is hypocritical of him. You can always count on the GOP to be hypocritical.

[dhill926]

6. hope he wastes all his money on this.....

[niyad]

8. sadly, it is our time and need to address serious issues that he is wasting.

I wonder if he can be sued for that?

[No Elephants]

54. If so, Bushco should be in court defending cases for the rest of their disgusting lives.

[minnesota_liberal]

43. From what I've read, the loser pays

and Norm is a big, unhappy loser!

[RobertSeattle]

7. Hyp Hyp .... Hypocrite!!!

[martymar64]

28. Rossi tried this in 04 when I was up in Seattle

Didn't that case move pretty quickly although they had it in court in Chelan Co?
I'm expecting that this one will move through the system quickly too.

[merwin]

42. Rossi finally conceded...

After taking it to court, he decided not to appeal.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

44. Rossi dropped the appeal because he didn't want voter fraud exposed

The State GOP made Rossi stop because a full contest ran the risk of exposing the rampant fraud machine the GOP had running eastern Washington.

[merwin]

45. That sounds a bit tinfoil for my tastes...

Unless there's proof :)

[tavalon]

51. There were shenanigans on all sides up here and King County got a few black eyes!

Hi, fellow Bothellite!

[merwin]

60. Interesting... I hadn't heard that.

I'm a Bellinghamster now... moved back to my hometown this time last year. I'm more of a small town guy :)

[No Elephants]

55. Great word I learned here the other day. Republicrite.

[Warpy]

9. Of course he is. He's ENTITLED to that seat! You rabble should know that!

By the way, did Marilyn Musgrave ever concede? Or is she still hiding out and pretending she still matters?

[niyad]

13. last I heard, she still had not conceded. the woman is nuts. I am soooo glad she and dougie are

gone (alas, I fear we have not heard the last of these two nutbars)

[GinaMaria]

10. so Minn has half the representation in the senate than the other

states? Except for Illinois. When will people like Norm Coleman recognize they are not the victim but the people they are supposed to represent are the ones that lose in these situations.

[geardaddy]

11. Yup.

We have one senator. I think the voters of Minnesota should sue Coleman.

[eyepaddle]

24. Well, as a Minnesotan I'd rather just have one Senator if Norm is going to be number two

Serioulsy, you just know all he'd do is fight AGAINST whatever might actually help. But yes, in a just world Normie "The Windsock" Coleman would STFU and go away and Let the winner take his seat.

However, we don't live in a just world--we live in this one.

[martymar64]

30. He's Number Two alright. Just not Senator!

:rofl:

sometimes I crack myself up!

[eyepaddle]

59. Bah-dump-bump-tsss!

We need a rimshot smilie aroundf here. :)

[No Elephants]

58. Yes, but so does Illinois--and that is our totally our fault. Drawing a line in the sand over

Burris was a big mistake. Everyone, including Obama, says he is a good man and did nothing wrong. If that is so, no bribe, nothing wrong in the his appointment process. This is bullshit and sets a very bad precedent.

[marshall]

12. Do not go gently into that good night....

At least the outcome will be very very clear.

[onehandle]

14. What an ass. nt

[DCKit]

15. Sore losers and even worse winners. Oh, those wacky Republics. n/t

[Stellabella]

16. God, go away, Norm.

What's the difference between newborn puppies and Norm Coleman?

Puppies open their eyes after a few days.

[rurallib]

18. HE IS NO LONGER "SENATOR" COLEMAN.

Former senator would be OK, but until this is cleared up (in Franken's favor) Coleman should no longer be referred to as "Senator".

[calimary]

19. SORE LOSERMAN.

Why aren't we hearing any of that anywhere?

Where's OUR "Brooks Brothers riot"? Besides, we have truth and accuracy and the facts on our side, as the phony cobbled-together partisan mob did NOT, while pounding on the windows trying to stop the vote count in Florida in 2000.

WHY, I repeat, WHY does our side NEVER play hardball??????

[mikeysnot]

21. Send those Sore Loserman signs from FL

to MN!


Plaster them all over the place. Remind the repigs what hypocrites they really are.

[No Elephants]

56. Al's doing ok at playing hardball on this one. We should all donate to him like we donated over a

million in a couple of days to the guy who ended up losing anyway. (Just too late, I think.) Pounding on the windows takes money.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

20. Graceless, classless loser

Good riddance to bad rubbish. He's been polluting Wellstone's senate seat for waaaaaaaaay too long

[BlueStater]

22. Let's be fair here, people.

If the shoe was on the other foot (which it very easily could have been) we'd all want and expect Franken to do the same, right?

[tkmorris]

33. Hmmm, I don't know about that

The results are very close yes, but seem pretty clear as well. I really don't know what grounds Coleman has to challenge this on, and if Franken was in that position and had no real legal argument I don't think I'd support further challenges.

[AndrewP]

63. If the situation was reversed, I would want Franken to concede.

Since he would have less votes and all.

Since Franken has more votes, I would prefer that he take office. I'm really weird that way.

[road2000]

25. A "hollow man"

that was Garrison Keillor's description when Coleman first came along.

[struggle4progress]

26. For details see the other thread:

MN-Senate; Norm Coleman to speak to media in St. Paul
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3675607

theuptake.org should have video of the Coleman & Franken pressers

[global1]

27. Two Questions - 1. Under What Basis Is He Challenging This? and .....

2. Is he still able to use his senatorial office in Washington D.C. or has he had to vacate that - does he retain his D.C. staff until this is resolved?

[geardaddy]

29. 1. I don't know. 2. His offices were ordered closed

and are closed. Both in St. Paul and DC.

[Thor_MN]

49. Hypocrisy is former Senator Coleman's basis

Norm first said that Al should concede to save the state money. However State Law requires the recount.

Al fought for improperly rejected absentee ballots be counted, Norm resisted counting any.

When it became clear that improperly rejected absentee ballots would be counted, Norm insisted that uniform standards be established to attempt to squelch the process.

Standards were established that the local official and both parties would have to agree on which ballots would be counted.

About 950 ballots met those standards and were counted. Norm is declared a loser. He rejects his arguements that the loser concede to save the State money.

Now on the short side of the equation, Norm (the person would wanted no rejected absentee ballots counted) suddenly insists that another 650 ballots cherry picked from red leaning precincts also be included, even though they did not meet the uniform standards that he insisted on.

There are several other issues that they are griping about, that combined would not give Norm enough votes to sway the outcome and all of those have already been certified in a very open manner during the recount.

Former Senator Coleman's other name is Hypocrisy Incarnate.

[newscott]

31. Because when Republicans can't steal it they SUE!

[justsomeguy1973]

34. Not like it matters one bit!

Welcome to the senate Al! We've been rooting for you!

[madrchsod]

35. the republicans stll control the senate

which means nothing will pass with out their blessing...

welcome to the jungle

[tavalon]

52. Shhhh!

That's not the official line.

I fucking hate it every time the minority party schools us on how to be a minority party, much less the majority!

[AlinPA]

36. Coleman has the governor on his side so this could take a very long time.

[rangersmith82]

38. how many votes are left??

Whats his argument??? is there more ballots to count???

[AlinPA]

39. I don't know the numbers; he can stretch out the lawsuit for as long as he wants to.

[No Elephants]

57. We should be attacking the Governor as anti-voter, partisan hack, whatever. That guy is

a wuss.

[and-justice-for-all]

37. Republicans and their temper tantrums...nt

[barbtries]

40. he's such a tool

he lost. eat it dickhead. go away.

doesn't he have some pending legal issues to tend to anyway?

[geardaddy]

46. Nah...

"The Tool" is Pawlenty. Coleman's just a slimebag.

[cascadiance]

41. He's just as much "on the rocks" as Rossi was in Washington gubernatorial election...

Didn't stop Rossi from challenging that election for months either... So much for "caring for the public"...

Note, perhaps someone could photoshop Coleman in one of his "ice chests" to go with "martini & rossi" here both "on the rocks"!

[opihimoimoi]

48. Sour Grapes...SORE LOSER ....NO CLASS .... .(Unspeakable)...(Explative)

[tavalon]

50. Aw, Norm. The people have spoken. Get over it! Move on!

Don't be a Sore Loserman!!!

Finally getting to say all those juvenile phrases right back at them is more enjoyable than I might have thought.

[and-justice-for-all]

65. Get that man a whammmmbulance!! and fast!! nt