In case you’re wondering, Minnesota still doesn’t have a second senator certified to assume office yet. The vast majority of the votes have been recounted and Franken hold a sliver of a lead (less than 50 votes), but still to be counted are approximately 1,300 improperly rejected absentee ballots. The Minnesota Supreme Court told both sides to play nice together and agree on mutually acceptable standards for counting these ballots. To absolutely nobody’s surprise, they have been unable to reach an agreement. But despite all the posturing of Coleman’s legal team, Franken is likely to be declared the winner. It’s not going to be the convincing win I was hoping for, but I’ll take it. Coleman was and remains an opportunist with no real convictions whose first Senate victory probably never would have materialized if Wellstone hadn’t died a week before the election. Losing his seat under different but equally fluky circumstances carries the whiff of karma.
Just for fun, let’s not forget that once upon a time Norm Coleman did loss to Jesse Ventura in the governor’s race.