A Modest Proposal for the Coleman-Franken Minnesota Senate Race: Flip a Coin

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The votes have been counted and recounted under existing laws.

The victor must be confirmed as a senator. Anything else is not democracy. To not admit defeat in a free and fair election in the greatest country on earth, is shameful, vindictive and unpatriotic.

D Smith of WA 10:04AM May 26, 2009

Funny, in a sad way, that the Republicans are "arguing that counties had differing standards in treating absentee ballots." as a way for Coleman to advance. I guess their "principles" are whatever is needed to benefit them, rather than a consistent set.

If equal standards had been in place in Florida counties in 2000 Al Gore would have been President. Only by exploiting different county standards was GWB able to take the election.

Gill Bates of NY 11:25AM May 07, 2009

Just like the 2004 Washington State election, voter fraud is rampant and has destroyed the credibility of the elective process. What is the chance someone would "discover" ballots in the back seat of her car, and THEY WERE ALL FOR FRANKEN? The entire recount has been a FRAUD with total bias counting votes for Franken and not for Coleman!

There should be another election, election officials should be FORCED to assure ONLY AMERICAN CITIZENS, RESIDENTS OF THE STATE, AND LEGALLY REGISTERED TO VOTE CAST ONLY ONE VOTE!

I think most of you might just be surprised by the vote.

Honest American of MN 11:53AM April 29, 2009

Forget the liberal dogma of Al Gore being cheated as a comparison. He simply ran a bad challenge and in fact he did lose Florida. But he could have gotten a recount if Boise would have simply petitioned the courts to do a full recount. That is all the Supremes needed to let it happen. But Gore was worried about it and there was no established method to do a selective recount.

In Minnesota, there is no way this system, with all of it's ridiculous found ballots, disenfranchised ballots, missing ballots, disallowed ballots, etc to allow an election to be completed with a 215 vote majority. Simply reiterate the rules on valid voters, schedule a special election and have the entire state revote. Forget the idiotic polls and either contestant's claims. Just do it over and let the results stand. Done deal and the loser, whoever it is, goes home.

The Edge of OR 6:24PM April 26, 2009

The fairest answer is just run it again. The third party candidate is out. The previous election is so tainted at this point that nobidy who can think believes it. Have a runoff between Coleman and Franken only and let the voters make the decision. Other than the cost, why not? Besides the way governments waste billions the cost would be insignificant.

Kevin Mackey of IA 9:45AM April 21, 2009

Gore won the 2000 popular election by 500,000 votes, and only "lost" the Electoral College because the Republicans stole Florida by disenfranching tens of thousands of African-American "felons" who in fact weren't felons, but happened to have names similar to felons. Nonetheless, Bush became president and Gore didn't get to flip a coin. Coleman lost - by a hair's-breadth, to be sure - but he lost. The fact that he is dragging the contest out to the point of ridiculousness and beyond doesn't entitle him to a coin flip.

Frederick of IL 3:17AM April 17, 2009

So sorry that I read this ignorant piece and sorry that you are neither funny nor intelligent!

jkfields of IN 12:37PM April 16, 2009

As an American, and not a Minnesotan, I hope that Coleman appeals his case as far as possible. The alternative is to seat an embarassment in the US Senate. An embarassment to Minnesota, to the country, and to the Democrat party.

Brad of TX 3:02PM April 15, 2009

Bush v. Gore was decided in 4 days. Coleman is definitely going for the SC if his appeal fails. Let him go and let the SC just hurry up, shoot him down, and then Pawlenty will issue the certificate.

Smooth Jazz of NY 10:32AM April 15, 2009

If that is the vote from Minnesota and there truely wans't anything improper then I don't have a problem letting it be. If there were counties (as has been reported) that were counted or not counted consistently that leaves open a reason for scruitny. If everyone is concerned that there is not a true Democratic process you should be respectful if there are voters that may not have had their vote counted. There are a lot of misguided soles out there that speak of the Republicans as ugly and mud slingers and all you have to do is read these comments to see the truth. I may not agree with the policies of the current admisistration but Obama is my President. I don't plan to sit by and accept policy that I don't agree with (I never did with Bush). I will never believe it is the Governments responsibility to provide everyone with healthcare, set my wage, manage our companies, bail out floundering businesses, etc. And by the way, there are millions of dollars of waste in the stimulus packages that we, the taxpayers, will pay dearly for. There are many countries that I can live in that do just that. What makes us great is we are not those other countries. I don't believe in our government as much as I believe in the productivity, and individual ingenuity that our freedoms have allowed to prosper.

Tom of PA 10:56PM April 14, 2009

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Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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