Tag Archives: Al Franken

Health Care Event in Saint Paul Friday

Yesterday, I called Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar and expressed my support for the public option in Heath Care. If you are a Minnesotan, please do that too. Al’s number is 651-221-1016. If you are not a Minnesotan, call Al anyway as he is on the Health Education Labor and Pensions committee. Use his DC number for that (202-224-5641).

Amy’s number in he Twin Cities is 612-727-5223, and if you are outstate you can get the right number at this link.

While you are in the process of making calls or sending emails, you should consider contacting the members of the Senate Committee on Heatlh, Educatoi, Labor and Pensions. You can get that info here.

Call, send emails, send snail mail.

On Friday, MoveOn members are gathering in Saint Paul to show Sen. Franken that constituents are counting on him to support real health care reform. Here’s the info on that event:

Continue reading Health Care Event in Saint Paul Friday

Al Franken actually won by a landslide

In any event, more people seem to like Al Franken than who voted for him … if we compare the 42% of the vote he got with the 49% approval rating he now has. (details)

This is partly a function of increased favorablity following the nasty recount process, but is also reminds us of something else: There was a third candidate in this race. If Dean Barkley was not in this race, would the outcome have been so close? And, who would have won?

The common knowledge on the street at the time of the election is that about two thirds of Barkley’s votes would have been for Franken had Barkley not been in the race. In addition, Franken was advancing on Coleman for the last several weeks. In other words, if the election was held three weeks later, OR if Barkley was not in the race, Franken would have had a decisive if not overwhelming victory. If both were true, Franken would have taken Coleman out by a landslide.

This is why I’ve been so frequently annoyed at calls to “just do it over” or statements that “no one really won” and so on. Franke was behind. Franken came from behind and passed colement.

In addition, consider this: If Franken was moving in on the vote count, then what about absentee votes cast days or weeks before the election? Wouldn’t more of those have been Franken votes had they been cast on election day?

The liberal blogosphere eyes Al Franken

Today, Al Franken goes to Washington. And we helped.

Now, it is time to kick his ass.

This is the difference between the dittoheads who will follow the anointed head of the Republican Party into a big pile of dogshit if he so orders them and us. They follow their sens less leaders, they stomp their feet and whinge and threaten, but it takes forever for even the most thoughtful Republicans to even begin to question their leaders. But we in the Liberal Blogosphere do not do this. We watch and we evaluate and we comment and we do not give anyone a pass just becasue we voted for them.

So how is Al Franken doing so far?

Continue reading The liberal blogosphere eyes Al Franken

Help Al Franken One More Time!!!!

I just got an email from my close personal friend, Al Franken. Here’s part of it (I cut out the personal smushy stuff):

I’ve said it before, and I want to say it again: THANK YOU.

We just received word that the Minnesota State Supreme Court has ruled on Norm Coleman’s appeal. I wanted to let you know right away, the court upheld our victory in a 5-0 decision.

Paul Wellstone said that successful organizing is based on the recognition that people get organized because they, too, have a vision. He also said that politics only has to do with trying to do right by people.

Throughout this campaign we’ve shared a vision of a new direction for our country. We know what we want – an economy that works for everyone, universal health care, and to create new jobs through renewable energy investment. As Senator-elect, I intend to take our shared vision of progress to Washington and try to do right by every single Minnesotan.

That’s the good news. Now, the bad news. Even though this process has reached its conclusion, we still very much need contributions to our recount fund.

It’s taken immense amounts of work by scores of dedicated legal professionals and campaign staff to preserve the win we achieved together. The financial resources required to continually defend our victory in court over the past seven and a half months were enormous.

Come on, just five bucks even. CLICK HERE

Franken Wins Court Battle, Unclear if Pawlenty will Sign

UPDATE: COLEMAN CONCEDES

The Minnesota Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge by Norm Coleman, thereby leaving the vote count determined by an election contest judicial panel placing Franken in the lead standing.

The basis of the Coleman legal challenge is was essentially that all abentee votes shoudl be counted no matter what, because they are, after all, votes.

The reason that is bad election procedure and bad law is that absentee voting is subject to serious abuses, and thus demands a certain amount of procedural control. This has been established previously. The absentee ballots that were not counted in this contest were all in violation of standing procedural rules. Coleman wanted those rules ignored so that the votes could be counted, Franken simply asked that the law be followed.

The court decided in favor of Franken.

…because strict compliance with the statutory requirements for absentee voting is, and always has been required, there is no basis on which voters could have reasonably believed that anything less than strict compliance would suffice…

This, by the way, is one of the reasons that I never vote absentee. You should not either.

Now, the question remains: Will Governor Tim Pawlenty, Republican presidential hopeful, certify the election? The Minnesota State Supreme Court did not specifically order Pawlenty to do so, so there is a chance he won’t.

Pawlenty made these statements during an interview on CNN last Sunday:

I’m not going to defy an order of the Minnesota Supreme Court. That would be a dereliction of my duty … I’m going to follow the direction of the court … I also expect them to give guidance and direction as to the certificate of election. I’m prepared to sign it as soon as they give the green light.

Well, as far as I know, the court did NOT give Pawlenty a “green light” or “guidance and direction.” It seems to me that he spoke on Sunday in such a way as to leave open the possibility of not signing the election certificate.

The court said, specifically, “Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled … to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.” That is clear, but it is not direction. It is guidance, but it is not a “green light.” And keep in mind that Tim Pawlenty is as smarmy and slimy and slippery as they come ’round these parts.

Of course, Coleman could just concede. But no one expects that. The only person smarmier than Pawlenty ’round these parts is Norm Coleman.

We wait. With baited breath.


WCCO reported the story here.


Star tribune reported the story here.

Pawlenty Vague on Signing Franken Into Senate

Time Pawlenty has become famous for his ability to be extraordinarily vague. Now we are seeing this in relation to the expected Minnesota State Supreme Court decision on the Franken-Coleman Senate election contest.

For the most part, Pawlenty has signaled that he will only sign the election certificate if he is instructed to do so by the court. He has implied, therefore that he will not sign it if he is not instructed even if the court has made a decision.

He has not explicitly stated which court he is referring to, but it seems that he is expecting that the state court may instruct him to sign before a federal court (to which we assume loser Norm Coleman will bring the contest) decides on the matter.

Here’s the problem: The state court will produce its ruling any day now. They are rather late in doing so and we await not only a ruling but an explanation of what has taken them so long. Once they do this, Pawlenty COULD sign the certificate, but may not.

Independently of the court’s decision, the court may or may not provide an instruction t the governor to sign the order. What Pawlenty is saying is that he will sign if so ordered, otherwise …. the implication is that he will not.

If he does not, he would wait for the court to provide such an order. That would likely only come if the issue is brought before the court, they hear arguments, then sit in their chambers for who knows how long.

Details here. The story is based on an interview with Pawlenty on CNN on Sunday.

Franken-Coleman Recount Decision: Maybe not today.

The Minnesota Supreme Court spokesperson Lissa “No-that-is-not-a-typo” Finne has told Greg Sargent’s Blog that the other blogs suggesting that the court would issue a decision today are incorrect. Finne indicates that sometimes the court tells the involved parties on Monday about a decision on Thursday, other times they come out with notification only minutes before the decision is announced.

So, this means … who knows. Don’t be holdin’ yer breath is all.

Franken-Coleman Senatorial Race Decision Expected …. Any Time Now

According to various sources which can not be named but that are being reported by the Capitol Report, the Minnesota Supreme Court is likely to make a decision today, Thursday, June 18th. If the decision is anything other than to support (uphold) the decision of the three judge panel which previously ruled in Franken’s favor, several legal experts in the state and across the country are going to drop dead on the spot of shock and chagrin.

It is not know if Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is going to be ordered by the court to produce an election certificate, but it is generally thought that he will not issue one unless so ordered. If the court does not order the Governor to carry out his legal duty, it may be required that Franken makes an argument to the court to do so.

One thing people have not commented on yet to my knowledge is this: In the event that Franken has to argue for the court to order Pawlenty to act on the court’s ruling, what sort of argument will Coleman make to the contrary? That could be interesting.

In the mean time, I understand the Coleman legal and recount team has offered its services to parties in Iran. I wish I was joking about that.