Far be it for me to call Politico an unbiased, non-rumor-mill-based media source...but this report actually sounds reasonable enough. Norm Coleman became the personification of the GOP's firewall against a nearly veto-proof majority in the U.S. Senate in the last election cycle, and despite their base's great gnashing of teeth over the controversy that ensued, it sounds like top-level leaders in the Republican Party recognize that Coleman might have something yet to offer.
A recent appearance on CNN alongside Democratic pundit Paul Begala was likely a piece of this puzzle. Always political and usually pretty strategic about it, Coleman made sure to bash the Obama Administration's deep-water drilling moratorium while finding a way to get in a line about agreeing with Begala on a piece of the issue. It was curious to see Coleman on TV discussing the oil spill and related issues until the question of the RNC chairmanship came up -- then it made perfect sense.
For one thing, Coleman wouldn't be saying some of the stupid things that Michael Steele has said in his tenure at the helm of the RNC. Coleman probably wouldn't be too friendly to the Tea Party base either, a thing that, while it might make the GOP more viable in some swing districts, is likely a good thing for our nation's political discourse. In the Senate Coleman was a generic conservative Republican, but he generally didn't go to the lengths that the Palins, Bachmanns, Bartons, Kings, et. al. have taken to advance their political agendas.
Of course, who knows -- the RNC chair race was wide open last time. Lots of things could happen. Should be fun to watch.
How bad does Al Franken's 312 vote victory over Norm Coleman in 2008 burn in conservative craws? Pretty bad. Some of them just can't seem to let it go. Since they can't do anything to Franken until 2014, the only other target is MN Sec. of State Mark Ritchie who is up for reelection this year.
Minnesota Majority, a right wing group with white supremacist flavorings, got the Republican's communications department, Fox News, to report on a "study" they concocted:
The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities.
That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.
The funny thing is, convicted felons did vote in the 2008 election. He voted for Norm.
I suppose it is a waste of my breathe to remind everyone that three MN courts all ruled unanimously that Franken got the most votes and that the election and recount were fair and square. Even Republicans like Tim Pawlenty and Norm's legal team stated that there was no vote fraud in the election.
Later, Justice Paul Anderson asked [Norm's attorney Joe] Friedberg bluntly whether he was alleging outright criminality by election officials: "Is there any evidence of any fraud, any favoritism, or anything other than the election officials in Minnesota tried to do the best job possible to apply the law?"
"Absolutely not," said Friedberg. "And there's no voter fraud, there's no election fraud."
According to MPR, the Ramsey County Attorney will prosecute 28 cases as a result of this "study." A far cry from the amount needed to invalidate Franken's victory.
Republicans will by trying to use this "study" as a cudgel with which to pummel Ritchie. Therefore, I suggest we all drop a few coins in Ritchie's campaign fund:
Last Thursday at their state convention, Republicans picked Dan Severson to run against MN Sec of State Mark Ritchie (DFL). What is remarkable is Severson's (and the whole party's) divorce from reality. Severson claims that the sole reason that Al Franken was elected to the US Senate was Mark Ritchie.
Here's an excerpt of the transcript of Severson's speech at a April 15th Tea Party rally in Rochester, MN:
In November of 2008 you cast a vote. And when you went to that poll you believed that that vote counted one vote. But you know, it didn't. When we had the count off that took place 8 months later, a guy got put into office that we didn't elect. His name was Al Franken. And you know what? (boooing)yeah. You know what? When you go to the other 49 states and say that name, they laugh. They go how in the world could you have elected a comedian to the 60th seat in the Senate? And you know what? You didn't elect him. Mark Ritchie elected Al Franken.
Tim Pawlenty said that the recount was fair and square. Every step of the recount was televised live by The Uptake. What happens when reality differs from what Republicans need to believe? They make **** up.
Severson and the Republicans have no factual ground upon which to stand, but the Republican party and reality haven't been getting along very well for a decade now and Severson's claims are sad, cynical and all too predictable.
With RNC Chair Michael Steele embarrassing the Republican party in nearly every way imaginable, DC pundits have begun talking about who might replace him when and if he gets fired or in 9 months when his term is up. They mention former senator Norm Coleman among others.
The insane pick would be Santorum. If he gets it, the teabaggers would be happy as Santorum will spout whatever nonsense is popular amongst them. Gillespie and Bush would be safe, boring picks.
But if Norm were to get it, he would certainly be able to give Tim Pawlenty's campaign a boost it desperately needs. I believe it would also signal that the RNC will be doing all it can to squelch a Palin candidacy.
Because Norm would push Pawlenty over the teabaggers favorite, I believe they would be unhappy with Norm as chair. Furthermore, the base in Minnesota doesn't like Norm (they consider him a RINO) and I'm sure his unpopularity would spread rapidly. With Norm, familiarity definitely does breed contempt.
Personally, I'm one of the few people fluent in Norm-speakTM and I'd gladly lend a hand interpreting. If you're not fluent, you can listen to him speak and have absolutely no idea where he stands on the issue upon which he was bloviating or if he actually answered the question he was asked.
The other day, the MN GOP got its undies in a bunch over some money Charlie Rangel (D-NY) gave to Minnesota Democrats Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Tim Walz, and Al Franken. According to MudSlingerMike's spokestool Luke Hellier at Minnesota Democrats Exposed, here's the breakdown:
Donations To Minnesota Democrats From Rangel's National Leadership PAC:
Tim Walz Received $15,000 In 2006 & 2008. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Al Franken Received $10,000 In 2008. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Keith Ellison Received $7,000 In 2006. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Betty McCollum Received $5,000 In 2000. (OpenSecrets.org, Accessed February 26, 2010)
Now, there's a reason I always say "Hypocrisy, Thy Party Is GOP" - and here's today's example.
And here's a cut 'n paste about merely one example of some really, Really, REALLY tainted dough ol' Smokescreen, who was essentially court-certified as The Fourth Most Corrupt Senator, took:
Norm Coleman got dirty money from Alaska
The Big E's picture
Submitted by The Big E on October 5, 2007 - 11:40am.
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has received $6,000 from VECO Corp executives. Norm may complain about Al Franken getting Hollywood money, but Norm is flush with dirty Alaskan oil money.
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VECO founder Bill Allen and former company vice president Rick Smith have pleaded guilty to bribing public officials. They also admitted running a company "special bonus program" that steered money to favored candidates, violated federal tax laws and sent untold amounts of corporate money into political coffers.
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Coleman's office said his campaign books were closed and the money was already spent. (MnBlue.com)
OK, "Coleman's office said..." Hmmm - I wonder who at Coleman's office said that? Thank God for google!
Coleman spokesman Mark Drake said the Minnesota senator is rejecting Democrats' calls that he donate to charity an amount equal to the $6,000 that his campaign got from Allen, Smith and two other Veco executives on July 9, 2002, because that money "has been spent and is not an issue." (AnchorageDailyNews.com)
Hmmm...hmmm...Mark Drake....Mark Drake.... Hey! Is that THIS "Mark Drake"??!?
Communications
Mark Drake
Communications Director
mhd@mngop.com
(MnGOP.com)
So, the same "Mark Drake" that defended Norm Coleman over campaign donations, is now the Communications Director for a GOP that is demanding that some Democrats do what Coleman wouldn't??!?
It turns out we won't have former senator Norm Coleman to kick around in the Minnesota Governor's race. I guess I can re-mothball the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter.
I love Minnesota and I love public service, but this is not the right time for me and my family to conduct a campaign for Governor.
Timing is everything. The timing on this race is both a bit too soon and a bit too late. It is too soon after my last race and too late to do a proper job of seeking the support of delegates who will decide in which direction our party should go. The commitments I have to my family and the work I am currently engaged in do not allow me to now go forward.
(Norm's Facebook page)
In the Republican party, the choosing of candidates is based less on grassroots and more on money. Right now, even the possibility of Norm Coleman running has large contributors holding back their contributions. This means a self-fulfilling prophecy because then many GOP candidates have to drop out. One of the first drop out candidates is Pat Anderson, who is announcing her change to the auditors race today. Craig Stellmacher from the Uptake captured this announcement:
Norm Coleman still has high negative reactions even among his own party. The people from the Teabag movement do not see Norm Coleman as worthy. So the Norm Coleman campaign is going to feel like a rerun TV show. Yet any other Republican might have to fight hard to stop the inertia of same old, same old Norm! I wonder if any other Republican has that kind of fighting power. What do you think?
The Star Tribune published a commentary by former Republican state party chair Ron Ebensteiner today. He admits that Al Franken "outstrategized" Norm in the campaign and in the recount. He admits that Norm couldn't win even with the "prevailing political winds" behind him. Aside from all the factual inaccuracies in his commentary, I couldn't disagree with him more.
I most definitely want former senator Norm Coleman to join the Minnesota Governor's race (MN-GOV).
As we start the New Year, there has been much conversation about the possibility of former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman entering the race for governor. As a former state Republican Party chairman and longtime observer of Minnesota politics, I believe it would be a bad idea both for Coleman and for Minnesota. I write these difficult words as one who strongly supported Norm's historic election victory in 2002, a campaign that left me with a great deal of admiration for his remarkable communication skills and sensitivity to the mood of Minnesotans. Words cannot express how emphatically I wish Norm were still my U.S. senator. Yet there are very clear reasons why Norm no longer represents Minnesota in the Senate, reasons with unmistakable relevance and consequences that resonate statewide, leading me to the inevitable conclusion that he should sit this campaign out.
Let's start with the first factual inaccuracy and this is just the opening paragraph. How could such a few number of words have so many inaccuracies?
"...as one who strongly supported Norm's historic election victory in 2002, a campaign that left me with a great deal of admiration for his remarkable communication skills and sensitivity to the mood of Minnesotans."
Isn't the only reason that Norm won in 2002 because Wellstone died a few weeks before the election? And didn't Norm and the right wing noise machine seize upon Wellstone's funeral and use it for political gain?
"Sensitivity to the mood Minnesotans?" Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he and his fellow Republicans twisted what a grieving son said about his father into a sledge with which they bashed the Democratic replacement candidate Walter Mondale?
Ohhhh ... right ... I forgot ... didn't Ebensteiner orchestrate it?
So much for ringing in the new year with the new. I have heard several people repeating rumors that former Senator Norm Coleman will be joining the Republican race for Minnesota Governor (MN-GOV). Consequently, I'll be bringing the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter back online and repurposing it for Norm's 2010 gubernatorial run.
The best part of all this is that Norm has already lost the MN-GOV race once. Some of you may recall a certain wrestler who beat him in a three way race in 1998.
A report from a reader about a political survey -- and this poll sounds legit, as opposed to the dreck the Republican Party of Minnesota has been putting out on the phones.
I thought I'd pass on a tip that I received a political survey this evening, and while they wouldn't say who paid for it, I'd put money on Norm Coleman. The number was 202-870-5104. I think they said their org was the Capitol Report or something similar (should have written that down earlier). They asked for right track/wrong track for Minnesota, biggest issue, favorable or unfavorable on Pawlenty, Emmer, Anderson, Norm, Rybak and Dayton, which Republican I would prefer, which Democrat I would prefer, head-to-heads with Rybak and Dayton vs. Norm, feelings on the recount (should Norm have dropped out? Or was it his right to challenge results?), and the claim that 11,000 ballots hadn't been counted in recount: if they had been counted, who did I think would have won?
That's my basic memory of the call. I'd take that as a strong indication that this was sponsored by Norm and was being used to gauge whether or not he should get in or not.
The fact that the head-to-heads involving Norm Coleman were asked might indeed be an indication that Coleman himself is polling the field to figure out if he should jump in -- that possibility is reinforced by the ask about the 2008 Senate race and feelings about how that ordeal ended.
If it is indeed Coleman polling the race, I doubt we'll see any of these numbers published anywhere. Which is too bad, I'd love to see how this one shakes out.
As I've previously mentioned, it would be a great move for Coleman to jump into this race -- for the Democratic nominee. This is a guy who has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in statewide races twice, and a third time barely beat a recently deceased opponent and his surrogate.
Those DFL candidates mentioned in that poll should be licking their chops at the possibility of facing Norm.
(I'd like to welcome Hegemommy to the MN Progressive Project ranks. I think you'll appreciate her posts on the nexis between politics, law and business. - promoted by The Big E)
How do we reward steadily increasing profits, even in the face of widespread economic downturn? If you're Thompson-Reuters you eliminate about 10% of your staff.
In the face of nearly a billion dollars of profit in the last fiscal year, and hot on the heels of $61 million in bonus payments, Thompson-Reuters let go 120 workers in what the company said was a response to the "changing landscape of the legal profession."
In many ways the legal landscape is changing. The widespread economic downturn has many lawyers rethinking the benefit of the billable hour as clients are no longer willing to pay $200 for a phone call. But like many other white-collar professions, more and more legal jobs are being sent overseas meaning that local attorneys are now competing for jobs with call-centers overseas. The result has been the emergence of a permalancer culture in the law--an entire workforce of highly educated, highly trained workers forced into independent contracting jobs for $26 an hour.
That means Thompson-Reuters has joined the ranks of those lowering the bar for good jobs for Minnesotans. This matters in a metro-area with four lawschools producing hundreds of new attorneys every year. The tighter the competition for legal jobs the more these workers will spill into other professions, squeezing from the top down any available jobs. The result is to squeeze the worker of every stripe in order to maintain multi-million dollar payouts to management, appearances be damned.
It's a business model that hasn't received much attention as of late, but one that ruled the day during the previous decade. Given the current public distate for blatant corporate greed, news of the layoffs does feel a bit gauche, which makes only fitting the fact that news of the Thomspon-Reuters layoffs breaks just as buzz of a Coleman political comeback picks up. So while Thompson-Reuters may claim that this move is in response to a changing economic climate, remember that it's really just business as usual.
As the recount between Al Franken and Norm Coleman in the MN-SEN race moved along, Franken's lead attorney Marc Elias claimed that his candidate was winning and that the numbers would eventually prove him right. The pundits and talking heads laughed at him initially; I hoped that he wasn't just bluffing and they really had gotten as organized as I'd heard. As the numbers began to swing towards Franken taking the lead, it became apparent that the Franken campaign had done a brilliant job preparing for the recount.
This weekend, Netroots MN had a panel entitled Clicks to Votes: Integration on the Franken for Senate Campaign. I attended to learn anything more I could about what I think was an extraordinarily tech-savvy campaign. I wasn't disappointed because in addition I learned more details about how well-organized the campaign was.
The panelists were Dan Cramer of Grassroots Solutions and JD Schlough. JD was in charge of all online activities (he's now a principal at Well & Lighthouse LLC). Dan came on board the campaign as a consultant in September.
Aside from being former senator Norm Coleman's buddy, Jeff Larson also runs a very successful communications and fundraising company, FLS Connect. Norm's campaign and Senate office contracted FLS Connect for upwards of $1.5 million worth of work. Larson is also slightly famous for helping outfit Sarah Palin for her appearances at St. Paul's Republican National Convention in 2008.
Larson has not been immune to controversy.
Larson gave his little buddy Norm a sweetheart apartment deal in Washington, DC. The rates were well below market prices and he even allowed Norm to skip rent payments and even pay with furniture that then remained on the property, probably for Norm to use.
His latest controversy is the equivalent of being posed the question when did you stop beating your wife?
An Arizona man who spent 10 months working as a telephone solicitor for a Minnesota-based Republican fundraising firm claims that the company regularly hires convicted felons who have unrestricted access to political donors' credit card numbers.
Minnesota political consultant Jeff Larson - a founding partner in the company, FLS Connect, which has offices in St. Paul and Phoenix - vehemently denied that any ex-convicts working at FLS have access to credit card information.
(St. Paul Legal Ledger's Capitol Report)
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza has Minnesota at 11th on the Line -- the ranking of gubernatorial races most likely to flip party control in next year's elections. Given that there are 37 gubernatorial races going on across the country, that's not a bad ranking.
11. Minnesota (R): The fields on both sides of the race to replace Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) are packed with candidates -- most of whom have a limited profile statewide. But, Democrats appear to have an ace in the hole in Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak who is widely expected to get into the contest in the near future. Republicans may well have to wait until next year to find out whether former Sen. Norm Coleman will run but given the Democratic trend in the Land of 10,000 Lakes in recent years, it may not matter who the GOP puts up. (Previous ranking: 11)
It's probably too soon for Norm Coleman to get back into electoral politics. He only won 42% in 2008, and his efforts to drag out the recount and election challenge beyond the last vestiges of hope and rationality didn't help his image. That being said, we're talking about a view of the race from Washington D.C., from which the big names automatically become top-tier candidates and little regard is given for on-the-ground happenings. YMMV, I suppose.
So much for ringing in the new year with the new. I have heard several people repeating rumors that former Senator Norm Coleman will be joining the Republican race for Minnesota Governor (MN-GOV). Consequently, I'll be bringing the 
