When did this Republican love for extended recounts start? Sometime after the 2000 elections, probably. Back then Republicans were universal in their desire for Al Gore to do the right thing and concede. Here’s current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appearing on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer on Dec. 4, 2000:

Al Gore at this rate, is going to become — will be remembered as the Tonya Harding of American presidential history, unwilling to accept the results after we’ve had a count, a recount, and a selected hand recount in overwhelmingly Democratic areas.

McConnell on Larry King Live, Dec. 6, 2000:

I think at this rate Al Gore is going to become the Tonya Harding of presidential politics. You know, he will contest this until he runs out of lawyers, and there are lots of lawyers down in Florida.

Coleman wasn’t vocal about the Florida recount, but he did make a statement on election night in 2000 that suggests his affinity for close elections has waned over time.

“Every day that Al Gore and Joe Lieberman were in Minnesota, they weren’t in Florida,” Coleman told cheering Republicans at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel in downtown St. Paul around 1:30 a.m. “You brought them here. We helped make this work.”

In Coleman’s defense, he was sort of wrong—Ralph Nader’s vanity campaign in Oregon, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin made those states less blue than they would have been otherwise, which meant more Gore trips to those states that, as you can say of so many things in 2000, cost him the election.

While seated at a table with the past and future vice presidents, Obama gave a statement to reporters about the meeting. As the press were being herded out of the room, a reporter called out a question asking if Obama was aware of Blagojevich’s efforts to “sell” Obama’s recently-vacated Senate seat, which Obama agreed to answer.

“I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not — I was not aware of what was happening, and as I said it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”

I couldn’t help but notice that Obama slipped and started to say “we were not aware,” before correcting himself and saying he was not aware of what was happening. This might lend some credibility to a local news report out of Chicago that Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, blew the whistle on Blagojevich’s activities. If this was the case, Emanuel would have had contact with the governor or his office on the matter.

Here is part of Obama’s statement on the meeting with Gore, the pool report:

“The purpose of this meeting today was to listen and learn from Vice President Al Gore on the extraordinary work that he has done around the issue of climate change. All three of us are in agreement that the time for delay is over. The time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way. That is what I intend my administration to do.”

Obama also reaffirmed his commitment to use the current economic crisis as an opportunity to create green jobs, increase energy efficiency and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

Update: TPM reports that a source close to Emanuel says the tip-off story is false.

President-elect Obama will meet with Al Gore tomorrow in Chicago.

Al Kamen of The Washington Post reported on Friday that next on Obama’s appointment agenda will be top posts related to energy and the environment, including energy secretary, Environmental Protection Agency administrator and secretary of the interior.

Gore has already indicated he’s not personally interested in serving, but the fact that he appears to be involved in an advisory role should go a long way to calm some of the fears about the trajectory of the new administration.

UPDATE: The Obama-Biden transition team confirms.

Tomorrow, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will be meeting with former Vice-President Al Gore in Chicago to discuss energy and climate change and how policies in this area can stimulate the economy and create jobs.