Legal experts are largely undivided in the opinion that Norm Coleman’s Minnesota Supreme Court bid to overturn a lower judicial panel’s decisions regarding the vote count in the Minnesota Senate race is senseless and has no chance whatsoever of winning.

This opinion was widely held prior to the presentation of arguments by Coleman, but now, with some real face time in the high court behind us, in which we see the arguments for real, and see the reaction by the judges, it is confirmed and certain that Coleman’s fate is sealed.

But what is not known at this time is the fate of Governor Pawlenty. Pawlenty is now known to be stepping aside from the race for re-election for governor of Minnesota, and it is widely believed that he will run for president. I can’t wait to see Pawlenty in a throw down against Obama. But, for Pawlenty to get that far he has to avoid being fallen upon, beaten, chewed up and spit out by his comrades in the Party of No. Which means that when the court rules in favor of Franken, but does not specifically order the governor to issue an elections certificat, Pawlenty CAN NOT issue that certificate. This is clear. As Hamline professor David Shultz recently noted (reported by Paul Demko noted in a recent piece in the Minnesota Independent) “As soon as he signs [the election certificate] voluntarily, he’s dead meat with Republicans nationwide. They’re never going to remember eight years of no new taxes. They’re going to remember you voluntarily put Al Franken in the Senate.”

On the other hand, if he does not sign, the citizens of Minnesota, who are quite tired of this process, will surely snub him if he runs for governor gain.

Which is why he is not going to too that, obviously.

If you are interested in the Minnesota Gubernatorial race, you should check out Mike Haubrich’s interviews with some of the most likely folks to run for Gubernor next time around…

Norm Coleman has requested a more “leisurely” (as the Star Tribune calls it) schedule for his recount appeal. What is more leisurely? The Coleman team would like oral arguments to begin no sooner than mid-May, and easily later than that.

source

Clearly, the hypothesis that Norm Coleman is simply playing a delaying game stands, still, unrejected.

A joint project by Democrats has flipped traditional fund-raising on its head, by starting a campaign aimed at collecting $1 a day from supporters “to make Norm Coleman go away.”

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a new group working to get like-minded candidates elected, has teamed up with Howard Dean’s Democracy for America to tap the wallets of Democrats who are disgruntled by the five-month-old ballot contest in Minnesota between Mr. Coleman, the former Republican senator, and Al Franken, the Democrat.

source