If Pawlenty has to sign off on Franken's Senate seat now, I bet he does.

[babylonsister]

The rethugs are dropping like flies! Jindal, Palin, Ensign, Sanford, who's next?!
The field is clearing.

[jaysunb]

1. Yup, but I wonder whats taking the SC so long ?

:shrug:

[saltpoint]

2. Norm evidently thought he had a shot at manipulating the results

to his advantage with a view toward holding that seat, but as things kept unfolding, he kept falling farther from his goal.

Pretty soon --at least it seems that way to me -- Coleman's argument were paper-thin and unpersuasive. Al Franken had done far better than Norm thought he would and with each new assessment and tally, Franken's position grew stronger and Norm's grew weaker.

At some point early on Coleman should have shown a smidgeon of dignity and held a press conference to concede defeat to Franken, to offer Franken and his staff warm congratulations and respect, and then finished with a grand gesture to "the greatness of our State and its people," etc.

It would have given Minnesotans a U.S. Senator a lot earlier and it would even have been a platform for Coleman to seek another statewide office if he so chose.

Instead he threw a temper-tantrum, fought for every ballot at every step of the way, and has come off as a crybaby loser.

[Cha]

4. Like Tedisco conceded in the 20 District in New

York that he was suppose to win?

<snip>>>

"NY-20 Tedisco concedes! Has the Michael Steele Watch begun?"

By John Amato Friday Apr 24, 2009 4:00pm

"Here's the DCCC's remarks:"

“In trying to win the NY-20 special election, the RNC, NRCC, and their Republican allies went all in on the losing gamble that voters would prefer their ‘just say no’ approach to President Obama’s bold plans to get the economy back on track.

“Scott Murphy’s victory in this district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 70,000 represents a rejection of the obstructionist agenda and scare tactics that have become the hallmark of House Republicans.

This race should never have been close, but to think Murphy beat Tedisco in a mostly Republican district is stunning. He was up by over 20 points before they turned into the Limbaugh National Committee and Michael Steele and the GOP started blocking everything President Obama tried to do. Don't forget, there were ads there targeted at Limbaugh and they did not disappoint. As for Steele, has the Death Watch begun? I wrote this a little while ago.

The latest word on the street is that if he fails to deliver NY-20, a Republican district, he will be ousted, but Tedisco has a solid lead in the polls."

<more>>>>>
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/ny-20-tedisco-conceeds-has-michael-stee

[saltpoint]

6. Cha, you beat a whole hell of a lot of us to the train station on that

20th District NY race.

It really was a stunner.

At first I had no idea how many more Republicans there were in the district, and when I found that out and saw how well Murph did, I was even more impressed.

[Cha]

10. We were sweating it! On that Tuesday..the

day of the vote..all I heard on my sister's local tv station was what a "referendum this was on Obama". Of course, the onus was on Obama even though it was a repub district! It was too close to call that night(there was even one thread that said Tedisco was celebrating..so it was even sweeter when we found out that wasn't true) and it took a week for the absentee ballots to be counted..

And, Steele is still growing weaker..

jenmito (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-23-09 08:55 PM
Original message

"RNC's Michael Steele Becomes Union Man"

"Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele appears to be suffering philosophical identity confusion, you know, like some people experience sexual identity confusion.

He's got an organization named United STEELE Workers Union, white hardhat emblem and all, collecting members for him on Facebook. It had 255 worldwide as of June 19.

This is disconcerting on so many levels, least of which is that I head the original, authentic United Steelworkers Union (USW). It has, by the way, 1.2 million retired and active members in North America..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-w-gerard/rncs-michael...

He's up to his old tricks. Just like when he was running for Senator in MD and had blue signs that read,

"Steele
Democrat"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8491978

[babylonsister]

7. Yea, BUT! Cornyn, and I'm sure others, are egging him on:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5906782

Cornyn: I’ll Support Norm Coleman if He Appeals to the Supreme Court

http://washingtonindependent.com/48351/cornyn-ill-suppo...

Cornyn: I’ll Support Norm Coleman if He Appeals to the Supreme Court
By David Weigel 6/23/09 2:12 PM


At a luncheon at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s headquarters near Capitol Hill (organized by the Heritage Foundation), I asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) if there was a Republican game plan ready when the Minnesota Supreme Court makes its ruling in the contested 2008 Minnesota Senate race — if, as many expect, it decides that Al Franken (D) defeated former Sen. Norm Coleman (R). Although he cautioned that “most predictions about judicial outcomes are 50/50″ and that he didn’t rule out a Coleman win in the state Supreme Court, Cornyn said that Republicans were ready to back more lawsuits if Coleman lost.

“We’ll do everything we can to support Norm as long as he has appellate remedies to pursue,” Cornyn said. “I’m not suggesting Norm has this plan in mind, because frankly I think he’s hopeful it turns out well at the state Supreme Court. But as a former state Supreme Court judge and as a recovering lawyer for 30 years now, I would tell that if he were to lose, what happens is that the secretary of state and the governor are required to sign a certificate of election. Just as a procedural matter, if — and this is a big if — Norm were to decide to appeal this matter to the United States Supreme Court under the Bush v. Gore (2000) precedent, which says that under the Equal Protection Clause uniform counting standards are a Constitutional matter, that they could appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The justice that’s responsible for that area — I think it’s Justice Alito — could issue a stay in the issuance of the election certificate, and it could be referred to the entire court.”

Cornyn wasn’t sure that this would happen. “I say all this as ‘could,’” he said, “not as ‘will or should.’ It depends on what the Minnesota Supreme Court does. But at the oral arguments, Franken’s lawyers did argue about the applicability of the Bush v. Gore standard. It makes no sense, and it doesn’t meet the Supreme Court’s Constitutional precedent, to say that one local election official can decide by one standard which ballots should be counted and that some official somewhere else could decide by a different standard.”

Cornyn also argued that there was a larger issue at play than whether the Democrats got a 60th Senate seat. “I’m very proud of Norm Coleman for fighting the good fight to protect the right of Minnesota voters to make sure all legitimate votes are counted,” said Cornyn. “That is the real question here. I realize it’s manifested itself in terms of who actually wins this seat, but I think that should be the focus.”

[saltpoint]

9. Yes. Cornyn is at the murky heart of quite a few things, come to

think of it.

It was no surprise to get a whiff of his smelly boots in the dark alley on the Coleman-Franken contest.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Issa and Pence. n/t

[Mz Pip]

5. Issa

would love love love to be the last man standing. He funded the CA recall thinking it would be a cakewalk to the Governor's mansion. He didn't read the fine print and he totally misunderstood the CA electorate's ironic bent.

The people who voted for Arnold thought it would be way cooler to have an action movie star as governor over a car alarm dude.

Mz Pip

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Issa is a good boy; he will do what he's told an what's best for The Party. n/t

[babylonsister]

8. Pence is a big box of rocks. No way. Issa? I don't know. And don't

forget Haley Barbour. He's another hot ticket. :D