Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Congratulations, Senator-elect Franken

Half a year after his fellow freshman Senators took their seats in Congress, Minnesota's Al Franken finally and truly has been declared the winner in Minnesota's 2008 U.S. Senate race.
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled: DFLer Al Franken beat Norm Coleman last year fair and square, and is eligible for an election certificate that will allow him to be seated in the United States Senate.

You can read the decision here.

Unfortunately, the decision does not explicitly order Gov. Tim Pawlenty to issue that certificate, so here's to hoping he won't see fit to play more dirty partisan games with Minnesota's second Senate seat.
The decision was unanimous.

Norm Coleman and Al Franken have both scheduled press conferences for this afternoon. Coleman's is first. Will he pull a Dino Rossi and announce he's not going to carry on this pointless legal battle any further, so that Senator-elect Franken can get to work for the people of Minnesota? We'll find out within the next hour.

UPDATE: Norm Coleman has conceded. "We are a nation of laws... The Court has spoken," Coleman said to reporters outside his home, confirming he will bring his legal battle to an end and allow Al Franken to be seated as Minnesota's new junior senator. "I called to congratulate [Al] and wish him the best," Coleman added. Franken will be holding his own press conference in an hour.

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