rssBullish on Norm
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 12:57 pm
- 4 Comments
In the wake of yesterday’s Minnesota three-judge panel court decision that ratified Al Franken’s Senate victory, I see that the InTrade price for “Norm Coleman to win” has dropped to 2. This is confusing. Hasn’t Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said the process is ongoing in Minnesota? Haven’t other Republican senators raised the possibility that Coleman might get the election overturned? As long as they’re raising money to aid Coleman’s lawsuits, why don’t they make some quick cash betting on the guy they know won the election?
While we’re discussing Coleman, it’s striking that he has run for office three times and never won a normal election. In 1998, he lost a race for governor to Jesse Ventura, the independent candidate. In 2002 he was losing a race for Senate against Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), but Wellstone died right before the election and Coleman beat his replacement, former Vice President Walter Mondale, as absentee ballots cast for Wellstone were tossed out. In 2008, of course, he lost to Al Franken. Discussions about Coleman’s political future seem strange at this juncture — voters really don’t like him very much.
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4 Comments
Comment posted April 14, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
Thanks for putting Coleman into perspective. I had decided the appeal was not about Coleman but about the possibility of 59 Democratic senators and a couple of independents. Reviewing his track record as you have done, it becomes obvious he knows his political career in Minnesota is nearly as dead as Blago's in Illinois.
Comment posted April 14, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
His mayoral elections were somewhat more successful. He won (as a Democrat) in 1993 handily on an anti-crime message. Notably, there was not an outcry about crime at the time, but he drove through his message of fear. Three years later he became a Republican, and won re-election in 1997 against Sandy Pappas. I supported him then, as he pledged to bring hockey back to Minnesota (which has turned out to be a pretty significant boon to the downtown area) and had succeeded in getting tech industries into St. Paul. At the time, I began to have misgivings, since he seemed an opportunist and a little too slimey; but all politicians are that way!
But I agree that his gubernatorial and Senate contests were less than compelling.
Al was not my first choice, as he's more a DNC than DFL Democrat, but he will be an outstanding Senator. He also really, really irritates the Republican establishment, which counts for something.
Comment posted April 15, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
Republicans can't do anything to ruin their political careers. Newt Gingrich is back, David Vitter's still kicking. It's like the Masons…
Comment posted April 15, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
Republicans can't do anything to ruin their political careers. Newt Gingrich is back, David Vitter's still kicking. It's like the Masons…
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