Coleman concedes race to Franken

Republican Norm Coleman has conceded to Democrat Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race, ending one of the longest Senate races in American history and clearing the way for Democrats to hold a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate.
Coleman’s concession, given from the front of his St. Paul home, came just a few hours after the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously ruled Franken the winner of last November’s Senate race. In a 5-0 decision, the court upheld a three-judge panel’s April 14 ruling that Franken defeated Coleman in the race by 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast. The 32-page opinion was remarkably decisive, picking apart and rejecting one Coleman legal claim after another.
In its final line of the ruling, the state Supreme Court said Franken is “entitled” under Minnesota law to “receive the certificate election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to sign the certification today, clearing the way for Franken to be sworn in early next week when the Senate returns from its weeklong recess.
“The Supreme Court of Minnesota has spoken, and I respect its decision and will abide by the result,” Coleman said. “It’s time for Minnesota to come together under the leaders it has chosen and move forward. I join all Minnesotans in congratulating our newest United States senator: Al Franken.”
Franken, in remarks outside his Minneapolis home about an hour after Coleman’s concession, said he expected to be seated early next week. Franken has already been told that he’s been named to two key committees — Health, Education and Labor and Pensions and Judiciary.
“It is time to bring the whole state together,” Franken said. “Over the past eight months, … Minnesotans have earned the right to take pride in the transparency and thoroughness of our election process.”
“I know there’s been a lot of talk about fact that when I’m sworn in, I’ll be the 60th member of the Democratic caucus,” Franken said. “That’s not how I view it. I’m going to Washington to be the second senator from the state of Minnesota.”
Coleman’s decision not to go for a federal appeal spares Pawlenty a difficult decision over the certification.
“The Minnesota Supreme Court has today addressed the issues surrounding the accuracy and integrity of our election system during the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota,” Pawlenty said. “In light of that decision and Senator Coleman’s announcement that he will not be pursuing an appeal, I will be signing the election certificate today as directed by the court and applicable law.”
In its ruling, the state Supreme Court essentially affirmed the lower court’s ruling: “The trial court did not err when it included in the final election tally the Election Day returns of a precinct in which some ballots were lost before the manual recount.”
“Norm Coleman has gotten shellacked in the court room — by judges who were appointed by Pawlenty,” said Larry Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political science professor.
Democrats will now hold a 60-40 majority in the Senate, the largest the party has enjoyed in a generation. Sixty votes are needed to break filibusters, ensuring that if Democrats stay united, they would be able to cleave the GOP’s last lever of power in Washington. A Franken “yes” vote on health reform, climate change legislation and Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor gives Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) even more of a margin for error on these major votes.
The significance of the Franken win was not lost on Senate Republicans, who say Democrats now own the agenda — all of it.
“The implications of this Senate race are particularly significant because the Democrats will now have 60 votes in the Senate,” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “With their supermajority, the era of excuses and finger-pointing is now over.”
Democrats are already celebrating the result.
“We’ve always said that Norm Coleman deserved his day in court, and he got eight months,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Now we expect Gov. Pawlenty to do the right thing, follow the law, and sign the election certificate.”
In a statement shortly after Coleman conceded, President Barack Obama said: "I look forward to working with Sen.-elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century.”
Reid did not say exactly when he would try to seat Franken — but called on Pawlenty to quickly certify Franken as the state’s junior senator.
“The Senate looks forward to welcoming Sen.-elect Franken as soon as possible,” Reid said. “He will play a crucial role as we work to strengthen our economy, ensure all Americans can access and afford quality health care, make our country more energy independent, confirm the president’s outstanding nominee to the Supreme Court, and tackle the many other challenges we face.”
With the Senate on recess, next week is the earliest that Franken could get sworn in as senator.
The Minnesota Republican Party issued a strongly worded statement, saying the ruling “wrongly disenfranchised thousands of Minnesotans who deserve to have their votes counted.”
But the chairman-elect of the party, Tony Sutton, sounded ready to move on: “As we move forward, our deeply flawed election system must be dramatically improved to ensure our state’s elections are fair, accurate and reliable.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), seemed to accept the final decision.
“While I am very disappointed in the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision today, I respect Norm’s decision not to pursue his case any further,” McConnell said. “After having more votes on Election Day, he made a great personal sacrifice to pursue an accurate account of the vote for Minnesotans. For that, and his dedicated service on behalf of Minnesota, he should be commended.”
In its 32-page decision, the court picked apart Coleman’s legal claims. The decision rejected two key constitutional claims: that Coleman’s due-process rights were violated and that the varying ways that election workers handled absentee ballots violated the Constitution’s equal-protection clause.
“Our review of the record convinces us that the trial court’s findings are supported by the evidence and are not clearly erroneous,” the ruling said. “As a result, we conclude that Coleman did not provide his equal protection claims.”
Coleman’s team argued that scores of ballots were wrongfully rejected and violated the Constitution’s equal protection argument since election officials used different standards for counting thousands of absentee ballots. It called for the case to be remanded to lower court so that more ballots could be opened. But Franken’s team successfully convinced the court otherwise and argued that it’s not unusual for ballots to be rejected for any number of reasons.
Coleman, 59, now will face a question on what to do next. With Pawlenty’s decision to forgo a third term, Coleman could mount a bid for governor. In 2002, Coleman was first elected to the Senate after Democratic incumbent Paul Wellstone died 11 days before the election; he later defeated former Vice President Walter Mondale who entered the race days before the election. Originally a Democrat when he first became mayor of St. Paul, Coleman changed his affiliation to Republican in 1996.
Before the ruling, Republicans in Minnesota and Washington were growing increasingly skeptical that Coleman would take the case to the federal level, given the overwhelming nature of his losses before the court.
Following a mandatory recount, Franken was certified the winner on Jan. 5 by 225 votes following a mandatory hand recount in the state, but Coleman vowed to contest the results in state court.