MN Sen. Norm Coleman is a kept man in D.C. courtesy of GOP operative

[Minnesota Raindog]

Norm Coleman's living arrangements and family life have become quite the topic on the campaign trail--first the dubious commercial starring wife Laurie's wedding ring:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=160x30782

and now this from the National Journal. It appears that Norm has been getting a sweet deal on his rent--not unlike those sweet mortgage deals some Democrats got that Republicans are crying foul over. Now the question is, with whom does Norm "crash" in his "crash pad" while wife Laurie is in L.A.?

http://tinyurl.com/3j8osa

Along the road to the top of the political heap in Minnesota, Coleman had plenty of help. But in the last dozen years, few if any supporters have played a more important role than a little-known Republican operative named Jeff Larson. Larson works in St. Paul but has gold-plated GOP connections in Washington and across the country. Or, as Coleman puts it: "He's the most connected person in D.C. that nobody in Minnesota knows."

Their relationship--the ambitious, energetic, can-do lawmaker and the low-key, behind-the-scenes strategist--has proved to be mutually beneficial. Larson's political telemarketing business appears to have profited handsomely from the relationship, and Coleman has turned to his close friend in times of need, including in his tough battle to win a second Senate term in November.

Most curiously, Larson provides Coleman with a place to live in Washington. In July 2007, Coleman began paying Larson $600 a month in rent for a portion of a one-bedroom basement apartment in a Capitol Hill town house that Larson owns. The way Coleman explained the arrangement, the apartment serves as a crash pad. The 58-year-old senator sleeps in a bed shoehorned into a 10-by-10 bedroom, and he said he spends perhaps only "three waking hours a night" in the place.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Sounds like the plot for "The Apartment".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apartment

[Wickerman]

2. Can someone else legally pay for a Senator's lodging?

Don't seem right, even if the poor boy has to sleep "shoe-horned" into a 10'by 10' room. Which, actually, is probably the size room that many of his constituents sleep in with their spouse. Hard to do, of course, when your spouse has permanently moved to Cali.

[LiberalFighter]

3. For him to include the excuse that he only spends 3 waking hours a night in the place

suggests there is more to it.