MN Supreme Court Declares Franken Winner

Congratulations,
SENATOR Al Franken!

Your move, Pawlenty. Will you keep your word?

CNN: Your state supreme court has a ruling before it, it could come very soon. After that ruling, the next step would be for you to certify the election. Will you certify the election based on your state’s supreme court ruling, is that for you?

PAWLENTY: I’m going to follow the direction of the court, John. We expect that ruling any day now. I also expect them to give guidance and direction as to the certificate of election. I’m prepared to sign it as soon as they give the green light.

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Arlen Loses His Seniority

From The Washington Post:

The Senate dealt a blow tonight to Sen. Arlen Specter's hold on seniority in several key committees, a week after the Pennsylvanian's party switch placed Democrats on the precipice of a 60-seat majority.

In a unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved a resolution that added Specter to the Democratic side of the dais on the five committees on which he serves, an expected move that gives Democrats larger margins on key panels such as Judiciary and Appropriations.

But Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which goes through December 2010. Democrats have suggested that they will consider revisiting Specter's seniority claim at the committee level only after the midterm elections next year.

And looks like he's got some work to do:

Specter, after 43 years as an active Republican, will have to prove his Democratic loyalty over the next 20 months to his colleagues in order to win their support for his seniority. That effort has gotten off to a rocky start following an interview he gave with the New York Times Magazine, to be published this Sunday.

Specter joked about how Norm Coleman could possibly win his legal contest and reclaim his Minnesota Senate seat, assuring there would still be at least one Jewish Republican in the chamber. Specter backtracked from those comments in an interview with Congressional Quarterly today, "In the swirl of moving from one caucus to another, I have to get used to my new teammates," he told CQ. "I'm ordinarily pretty correct in what I say. I've made a career of being precise. I conclusively misspoke."

Here's the Congressional Quarterly interview.

Not-Senator Norm Coleman Says 'God Wants Me to Serve'

From Smart Politics:

On Friday, Coleman made the media rounds with radio interviews that included conservative nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mike Gallagher.

[snip]

When asked about the recount and how it is affecting him personally, Coleman said he starts every day with a prayer and that he knows “God wants me to serve.” Coleman did later temper those rather immodest remarks by adding that he “is not indispensable” and that others can serve as well.

We here at 2 Political Junkies hope that if there is a God, that Coleman was right about God wanting him to serve:


They also serve who only stand and wait
.

Senator Franken

Two happy words.

From Reuters:

Democrat Al Franken will be declared the winner of the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota, emerging from a ballot recount with a slim margin over Republican Norm Coleman, state officials said on Sunday.

But Krugman's description of the GOP as a party of whiners extends all the way to Minnesota.

But Coleman, the incumbent, has asked Minnesota's supreme court to require that a few hundred additional absentee ballots be included in the recount -- and he could then ask the court to investigate the contest all over again.

Norm Coleman, WATB.

I wonder if my friend Jack Kelly will be writing another column about how a duly-elected candidate should be seated. I wonder what my friend Jack Kelly thinks of the threatened filibuster by his friends in the GOP?

Questions? Comments? Remarks? Drop me an e-mail.

UPDATE from JT:

I've been following the recount in the Minnesota papers, and it looks like everything was done transparently and above the board. Congrats, Senator Franken! That said, I'm not yet convinced he'll be an effective senator. Not because he isn't familiar with the issues or not smart enought (he's both well versed, intellegent, and perceptive) but because as a satirist, I'm not sure his wit/sarcasm will go over well in the old boys club. Now, please prove me wrong Al! That said, I wish we had more citizen legislators like Franken in office, and fewer career politicians.