Special as a Democrat, special now as a Republican, offshore drilling advocate and special friend to offshore drilling business owner Nasser Kazeminy, he will take his special issue to court - for the good of the nation, especially as a matter of principle; AP reporting:
MINNEAPOLIS – No longer a U.S. senator, Republican Norm Coleman was headed to court Tuesday, seeking to overturn a state board's certification that Democrat Al Franken won the U.S. Senate recount.
Coleman's lawyers had promised a legal challenge a day earlier, arguing that some ballots were mishandled and others were wrongly excluded from the recount. Coleman scheduled an afternoon news conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul to discuss his next steps.
Minnesota law prohibits final certification of a winner in the face of such a lawsuit, meaning the race could remain in limbo for several more months.
Franken declared victory Monday, but a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in Washington the former "Saturday Night Live" personality would not be sworn in with new senators Tuesday.
Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh declined Tuesday to reveal if he was in Washington or what he would do during a legal challenge.
Minnesota's Canvassing Board certified Monday that Franken won 225 more votes than Coleman, out of almost 3 million cast.
"I am proud to stand before you as the next senator from Minnesota," Franken told reporters outside his downtown condominium.
The Canvassing Board's certification of the recount results started a seven-day clock for Coleman to file a lawsuit. His attorney, Tony Trimble, said Monday afternoon that the challenge would be filed within 24 hours.
"This process isn't at an end," Trimble said. "It is now just at the beginning."
A lawsuit would open doors closed to the campaigns during the administrative recount. The campaigns would be able to access voter rolls, inspect machines and get testimony from election workers.
When the smoke cleared after the election, Coleman appeared to hold a 215-vote lead. But Franken made up the deficit over seven tortuous weeks of ballot-sifting, in part by winning more of the challenges that both campaigns brought against thousands of ballots.
Franken also did better than Coleman when election officials opened and counted more than 900 absentee ballots that had erroneously been disqualified on Election Day.
Likely to be a major feature of any lawsuit is the argument by Coleman's lawyers that some ballots were mishandled and others were wrongly excluded from the recount, giving Franken an unfair advantage.
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was careful Monday to note that the board was simply signing off on the numbers found by the recount: Franken, with 1,212,431 votes, and Coleman, with 1,212,206 votes.
"We're not doing anything today that declares winners or losers or anything to that effect," Ritchie said.
All five members of the canvassing board — Ritchie, plus two state Supreme Court justices and two Ramsey County judges — voted to accept the recount results.
Meanwhile, PiPress' Dave Orrick reports Q's and A's:
Republican Norm Coleman, whose U.S. Senate term expired Saturday, announced Monday his offices are closed. There are a lot more Q's than A's on this topic, but here's our best shot as of Monday evening.
Coleman issued a statement that called the situation "unique in the history of the Senate" and promised that constituent needs would continue to be met.
"It has always been a high priority of mine to ensure that constituent service was being handled expeditiously and efficiently," Coleman said in a statement. "... Minnesotans should contact Sen. (Amy) Klobuchar's office or their local representative with any new casework needs they have. During this time we will also continue working to ensure constituents with outstanding and urgent casework needs are being served appropriately and effectively."
Q Why did the offices close?
A The Senate Rules Committee, which is controlled by Democrat Charles Schumer, of New York, ordered them closed. Senate dollars pay for those offices, and the Rules Committee has jurisdiction over such things. Coleman, apparently, has decided not to fight the decision. Another key fact that might have had an effect: The state canvassing board officially declared Monday that Democratic challenger Al Franken received 225 more votes than Coleman on Election Day.
Coleman has vowed to sue, and he'll speak publicly today. His attorneys have said the recount process is "broken."
Q What does it mean that he closed his offices?
A Literally, it means the doors on his four Minnesota offices and his Washington, D.C., offices are closed to the public, and workers won't be answering the main numbers.
Q Are his workers out of jobs?
A It's unclear. His press secretary, LeRoy Coleman (no relation), was still responding to reporters' questions Monday, and it appears some workers who deal with constituent services will be working.
Q What if I need my senator's help?
A We still have one senator: Klobuchar. Her spokesman issued the following statement Monday: "Until this is resolved, Senator Klobuchar and our staff will do everything we can to fill the gap and work with Minnesotans who contact us for help. That is our major focus right now."
There is no word whether he's also been ousted from his DC digs, rented to him by husband of a former Coleman staffer, who also reportedly fronted the cash for the Sarah Palin campaign wardrobe.**
Robocall guru Jeff Larson, please go easy on former Senator Coleman.
No evictions, please.
He's special.
__________________
**She looks special, acted special, dressed special, and she did that without any special help from Nasser Kazeminy buying her any of that specially nice stuff.
Landlord Jeff, they say, took that hit:
The Atlantic reported:
What hasn’t yet gotten any attention is who bought it for her. But buried in the same FEC disclosure form that revealed Palin’s taste for the fine life is the name of the man who appears to have been her personal shopper: Jeff Larson.
Does the name Jeff Larson sound familiar? It should. Larson is the Karl Rove protégé who’s a principal in the robocalling firm of FLS Connect (the “FLS” stands for Tony Feather, Jeff Larson, and Tom Synhorst*, all veteran Republican political operatives). Larson’s firm is the same one that launched the scurrilous robocalls against John McCain in 2000, and that McCain has now hired to make robocalls connecting Barack Obama to Bill Ayers. He’s also well known in Minnesota for leasing his basement apartment at a steeply discounted rate to embattled Republican Senator Norm Coleman. Evidently, Larson also has quite the eye for women’s fashion. Even hateful liberals would have to admit that Palin dresses awfully nicely.
What’s so incompetent about this from a political tradecraft perspective is that both parties ordinarily take the easy precaution of making sure such embarrassing material isn’t obvious to reporters, which they do by routing the payment through a law firm [insurance firm??] or consultant. Here they neglected to do so. Larson may not be able to look forward to a lucrative contract with a McCain administration. But who knows? He may land his own show on Bravo.
We live in special times.
Atlantic has the image showing the wardrobe - Larson connection, NYTimes has the expense sheet on dresing the Palins [allegedly, she could dress a bagged moose, but needed help dressing herself].
Where was Nasser when needed? Where was Hays Companies?
Why Jeff?
He's a landlord, he's a credit card, he's what else - but very, very special.