Franken wins by +312 votes.
April 30 Coleman Appeal Brief to Supreme Court Due: DONE
May 11 Franken Respondent's Brief Due: DONE
May 15 Coleman Reply to Respondent Due: DONE
June 1 Coleman v. Franken Oral Arguments before the MN Supreme Court: 11 days from TODAY
Things the People Think
For those reporters who haven't forgotten, or for those who have fallen into the doghouse with their editors, the MN Senate Recount still counts as news.... under the fold on page C19, alongside "Woman Bitten by Jackalope; Rabies treatments begun". But news! by gum. Its like having the ghost of George Carlin come out and do stand-up while pretending to read news items. ("On-Duty Criminal Shot by Off-Duty Cop" or "The Food & Drug Administration announced today that saliva causes stomach cancer.....however only when consumed in small quantities over a long period of time.")
Lets start with.....the People. Particularly the People of MN, who had 90+ degrees in the Twin Cities the last 2 days while also "enjoying" enough snow at Lutsen two weeks ago to close the golf course. Really.
According to Rachel Stassen-Berger at the St. Paul Pioneer Press Rasmussen has polled the good snowed-on-in-May, un-golfed and yet sweating people of MN and found 63% think Franken will (finally) be declared the winner while only a "Cheney-ian" 15% come out of their home bunkers and think Coleman will. Thats a 4-1 grip on reality that is a good sign.
54% think Norm should concede...NOW, without waiting for the MN Supreme Court decision, while 41% disagree. As Coleman got 42% of the vote in November he has his supporters with him. As 42%(Franken) and 15%(Barkley) voted AGAINST Coleman (=57%), well, they are still agin' him.
AND, to drag another interested (if despised) politician into the equation, 67% (a damned hefty number) think Governor Pawlenty should sign a certificate of election for Franken if the MN Supreme Court rules in his favor. Only a "Bush-esque" 25% say otherwise, so still better than 5:2.
Full story here:http://blogs.twincities.com/...
Things Pawlenty
Tim Kaine, head of the Democratic National Committee, wrote an open letter to fellow Tim-ster the Gov urging him to sign off on Franken's election once the MN courts are done. Governor Tim is in his annual "Democrats are Scum of the Earth" mode and he is vetoing everything that smells vaguely Democratic (like emergency health services in the state; Gov. Tim? This winter people are going to DIE because they can't get treated by over-worked ER personnel. It will be YOUR fault, yours and the MN Taxpayer's League nutzoids who should have all the street snow in their communities plowed and dumped on their front lawns....fume!). I don't think Kaine got very far, but every little bit of pressure helps.
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
Things Klobuchar
AND...after my Tuesday diary in this series that took a leaf from the Sunday Star Tribune and had a story on Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Cynthia Dizikes of the MN Post thought writing about Senator Amy Klobuchar might be a neat idea. Covers a lot of the same ground, obviously, but with an added bonus. Two Very Prominent Minnesotans think Klobuchar is doing a tremendously good job:
Former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman agrees. "I have always appreciated the efforts of Senator Klobuchar to reach across the aisle to meet the needs of Minnesotans," Coleman told MinnPost via email Tuesday. "I also appreciate that she has respected my desire to enfranchise more than 4,400 Minnesotans who have not had their voices heard or had their votes counted in spite of the additional burdens on her and her office."
Yeah, the usual crap-tacular tag line in the back half, but still...... Norm? You almost had a sincere moment there. And as George Burns pointed out in Hollywood, "The hardest thing in this business is sincerity. Once you learn to fake that, you've got it made." But keep working on it Norm.
Democrat Al Franken also lauded Klobuchar's efforts. "No one is better prepared to do double duty than Amy Klobuchar," Franken told Minnpost via email on Tuesday. "Amy is one of the hardest workers I have ever met, and Minnesotans know that she's been working overtime for them for the last five months."
Nice and subtle, Al. Just a little reminder how LONG its been.
Nice story and good quotes from other sources too: http://www.minnpost.com/...
Things Literary
"Drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain... and the beat goes on". Not only do Sonny & Cher keep going on (in various states of animation) but pre-orders for Recounting Minnesota (the dead-tree collection of these diaries hopefully due out by mid-August) have reached over 120 from you people. (WineRev tousles hair, drops voice into Upper South accent and channels his hunka-hunka burnin' love tone:) But thank yew. Thank you verrra muuch.
The pre-orders will help fund the first print run.
Cover art development is underway..... NOT featuring any of the Coleman legal team. The copy editors are slogging away at "egregious errors" (according to one of my Amazon editors; and as author I say to them, "How tough can 14 errors in 149 diaries be?" This is always followed by the sound of maniacal laughter and the clunk of a dropping phone...... odd.)
http://www.wordalchemy.net/...
OK, not much as you can see but here in MN we go into Mary Tyler Moore mode: "We can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile...." So your winerev will be tossing his doff (DOFF!) hat in the air as he heads to the late shift at the wine shop. Thats the semi-latest from yust southeast of Lake Wobegon.
Shalom.