Franken Won the Minnesota Senate Race; Coleman Needs to Make a Dignified Exit

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Our man John Mashek has called for Norm Coleman to give up his legal challenge and let Al Franken be seated as Minnesota's next U.S. Senator.

It has been four months. We are now well into March. Why spring is just around the corner, even in Minneapolis. They will be seeing daffodils in three or four months. It's time to give up the ice fishing, and see what the Twins are up to, and admit that, yes, this particular Norse saga is getting pretty tedious.

As Mashek points out, Franken's win has been certified by state election officials, and the reports of the initial court challenge don't look good for the Republicans. Even before Coleman's legal team got caught in some embarrassing shenanigans, the three-judge panel conducting the initial review appeared skeptical.

But Coleman has not exhausted every legal option, so we're looking at further wrangling. So be it. This is why we have courts. I'm not under any illusions that the Republic cannot function with but 99 senators. And I have no great love for Franken. He once conned me out of a dollar, which he has never repaid.

Still, Mashek makes a good point. With much more at stake, Al Gore emerged from the 2000 recount with dignity, got his life together and went out and won a Nobel Prize. Coleman needs to look for a similarly classy exit strategy. His latest ploy—calling for the state to redo the election—looks desperate and unseemly.

Now. as to Mashek, whose column has elicited some negative feedback. I am here to tell you that I have known him for some years and, contrary to what his critics have suggested, he was born of legal parentage; knows how to read and perform elementary arithmetic; has sired fine children, and demonstrated excellent judgment (and inexplicable good fortune) in his choice of a spouse.

Indeed, aside from a certain reluctance to pay for the cost of shared taxi rides, he's all right.

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