Senate race complicates Coleman’s leadership bid

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Senate race complicates Coleman’s leadership bid
By Manu Raju
Posted: 11/10/08 04:16 PM


Sen. Norm Coleman’s cliffhanger reelection race in Minnesota has complicated his long-sought bid to take the reins of an influential Republican campaign committee, senior GOP aides said Monday.

The Senate Republican Conference is scheduled to hold votes Nov. 18 on key leadership positions for the 111th Congress, even though the outcomes of races in Minnesota, Alaska and Georgia have yet to be determined.

Coleman leads comedian Al Franken by just 201 votes, ensuring that the 2.9 million ballots will be recounted by hand and the outcome won’t be known until mid-December, weeks after the party wants to have its new leadership team in place.

According to several aides and senators, Coleman has signaled his interest in taking over as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which will spearhead the GOP’s Senate election effort in 2010. Coleman, who lost his NRSC chairmanship bid narrowly in 2004 to Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), would face off next week against Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), in the one contested Senate GOP leadership race.

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