Opinion: Make that <em>Sen.</em> Al Franken, probably, but ...
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It looks like Lorne Michaels and ‘Saturday Night Live’ alumni continue their march to take over the world.
Having already captured Hollywood and moving in on network TV, they’ve now targeted the United States Senate, which could seriously use some daytime laugh lines and satire.
After, what, nearly two months of counting and recounting, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board a short time ago said that neophyte politician and profound Democrat comedian Al Franken had clobbered incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman by 215 votes out of a total of 2,424,637 acceptable votes.
As Huffington Post notes, that’s a victory margin of 0.0077, which henceforth shall be called a ‘Minnesota mandate.’
Of course, that’s not the actual end. Coleman has lost in state court, claiming that some ballots were counted twice while other disputed ballots went uncounted.
And now his people are talking about going to federal court. A few more details here.
Although the new Congress doesn’t open until Tuesday, the Democrat-controlled Rules Committee ordered Coleman’s Washington offices closed and locked today while majority leaders vowed to seat Franken and Republicans suggested they might fight that.
So this change thing hasn’t seemed to catch on back there yet.
But wait. The announced election must still be certified by the Minnesota governor. His name is Tim Pawlenty. He’s a Republican. As the Ticket noted earlier today, there’s been some trouble certifying the appointment of a Democrat by the governor down Illinois way.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has vowed to block Roland Burris from taking Barack Obama’s vacant seat Tuesday, while the president-elect prepares for his Jan. 20 inauguration. So the Land o’ 10 Billion Lakes may become the second Land o’ One Senator for a while.
For a quick trip down memory lane with the now almost honorable Al, click on the ‘Read more’ line below.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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