Jul 01 2009
Franken Officially Declared Winner
After a process that seemingly would never end, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Al Franken is the rightful winner of the state’s U.S. Senate election last year. Outgoing Sen. Norm Coleman could conceivably have tried his luck in federal court but the odds of getting a favorable result certainly weren’t good.
Instead, Coleman conceded the race. Franken accepted victory and plans to begin his term next week. Congress is in recess this week for Independence Day.
Franken will be the 60th member of the Senate’s Democratic Caucus. Independents Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders caucus with the Democrats.
Getting 60 votes to break any Republican filibusters will be hard. Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd haven’t been in Washington a lot this year while battling health problems. There will also be issues for which a few Democrats will want concessions to cast votes. The cap-and-trade bill that passed the House last week comes to mind immediately.
We have to put up with “Stuart Smiley” for 2 years? Not to mention he gets to sit in on Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings.