I am well aware that FISA is an oft-discussed issue here on Daily Kos. And I am well aware that some will consider this hysterical over-reaction. But, personally, I think this entire nation is suffering from a horrific complacency of inaction, and so I'm going to say my piece.

As I celebrate this July 4th weekend -- one of my favorite holidays; the anniversary of this website's birth; and the always joyous occasion of opening a play -- my thoughts are consistently drawn back to the pending FISA legislation in Congress and the issue of telecom immunity. This is not unnatural, because the pending FISA legislation is a betrayal of the principles of government which were laid down by our founding fathers more than two hundred years ago. Since I consider the July 4th holiday to be a celebration of those principles and the nation those principles established, I actually consider it a celebration of sorts to take these issues under consideration.

From one standpoint, Minnesota's senior Senator Norm Coleman is certainly a lucky man. He has a lovely wife, Laurie Coleman, who has succeeded at several walks of life: she is a former runway model and actress, and currently an inventor and entrepreneur (and mother of the Colemans' two children).

Laurie Coleman's latest endeavor is absolutely priceless, although it retails for $29.99.

Seems that Ms. Coleman grew frustrated with accompanying her husband on the campaign trail and on junkets abroad: one would wake up early in the morning in hotel rooms, with no way to properly take care of one's hair in such a brief period of time.

So she gave the world the rather unfortunately named Blo & Go!

For years, Coleman had been jury-rigging wire coat hangers into holders for her blow-dryer so she could use both hands to style her hair. "You go on a trip with senators and you have 45 minutes and you have to be ready to go," says Coleman, who doesn't have the luxury of traveling with a hairstylist. "Norm's not going to blow-dry my hair."

Her makeshift holsters were awkward, but they worked. That led a friend, Anthony Turk, who is now her business partner, to encourage her to develop and manufacture the device. It took four years of working with a product designer, but you can now get a Blo & Go for $19.99.

Prices have increased due to the economy, of course, but still!

The Washington Post rather dryly notes:

It is hard to believe that the name Blo & Go was not chosen to, at the very least, amuse. This, after all, is a world in which the term "wide stance" churns up easy chuckles.

Coleman's voice registers shock -- and dismay-- that anyone would make such a connection. "I didn't think of that," she says.

Evidently.

So I wonder how old Norm feels about his wife's invention?

"I needed something of great quality that was really going to stay up," she says.

Ouch.

"The whole key to this is the suction."

Stop it. You're killing me.

Senator Coleman, unfortunately, has not issued any public statements on the Blo & Go, depriving us of what could be a true YouTube gem. But as minor consolation, we have this zinger from Comedy Central's Pages:

It's fortunate that Coleman doesn't offer refunds, because (Senator Larry) Craig is going to mistake this product for an airport concierge service.

Race tracker wiki: MN-Sen

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has come under fire for his living arrangements.  In an extensive interview in the National Journal, Norm defended the sweetheart apartment deal he received from Jeff Larson, a Republican activist and fundraiser.  Norm denies any wrongdoing, using Norm-speak^TM to attempt to claim that the apartment is cramped and a crash pad.

Local newspapers are burying this news in their back pages and I haven't checked out the television coverage, yet.

This revelation is going to make life very uncomfortable for Norm.  Especially after the focus has been on Norm's opponent Al Franken's problems for so long.

AUTHORS NOTE: I had written this to post it yesterday afternoon. For some reason, it would not let me publish, saying I had already written a diary (it had been deleted). I chose not to edit it, so some of the references ("today", "yesterday") are a bit off. Apologies...

There was another bevy of polls this week, both on the presidential race and downstream, as well. Unfortunately, I do not have all of them at my disposal, as I put them in a notebook which I cannot, at present, find.

Nevertheless, I do have numbers on 22 separate contests, so let's head past the jump for the numerical goodness, which includes two polls just released in the past few hours!

Ok, ok, I will finally give in. This Minnesotan was unsure of Al Franken for months. I was always basically neutral but I wanted to see a fair fight and contributed to one of his underfunded democratic opponents. I have met all of the DFL challengers to Norm Coleman. I could not go to a DFL fund raiser and not talk to a senate candidate even if I wanted to.

Yep, so at this point the sheer mass of polling data is such that it is time for me to tiptoe back into the water. The fact that school has let out for the summer (though I am teaching summer school) helps out, as well.

So today, the Following the Polls series that I began back in 2006 makes its permanent return. It will start as a weekly series (Friday seems to be the logical day), and then it will become daily once we get past Labor Day.

And, week one of the series sees a big polling week, as there are 35 separate races that were polled this week. Head past the flip for all the numerical goodness.

President Bush's former speech writer Michael Gerson goes on attack on behalf of Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) today.  Gerson is the man responsible for writing the speeches that lied us into the Iraq War.  Now as a journalist, he's been a defender and advocate of all things Republican.  From defending the lies he helped construct to lead us into war to beating the Iran war drum to now defending vulnerable Republicans, Gerson has a prominent location from which to expound ... The Washington Post.

http://kstp.com/...

[Updated:  see below]

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) claims to be a Senator who "brings people together to get things done."  I discovered a perfect example of the kind of leader that Norm Coleman is, but it requires a bit of splainin' or back story so that you can understand the entire context in which Norm took this bold stand which I will eventually get to.  I think after I am done explaining, you'll agree with me that Norm is a brave man who takes bold stands based on principles.

Not.

I know, I know...it's not likely, but a brother can dream can't he?

Following up on my post from yesterday and incorporating some of the suggestions/corrections from the comments made there, let's take a look at our best case scenario in the November Senate elections.

Right now, we're at 49 Ds, 49 Rs and 2 I's.  When the smoke clears on election night in November we'll be at 62 Ds, 37 Rs and 1 I.
Here's how it's going to happen....

Here’s how the Dems can win a filibuster-proof 60 seat majority in the U.S. Senate.  It’s not going to be easy, but it can happen.

Right now, there are 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats and 2 Independents (Sanders-VT & Lieberman-CT) who both caucus with the Dems.

In November of 2008, there will be 33 Senate seats up for election AND one special election - to replace the retired Trent Lott-MS.  For the Dems to achieve a 60 seat super-majority they will need to win 9 seats that are now held by a Republican.  Here are the 9 seats that are in reach:

Ed Schultz had a discussion last week about the right wing tactics being used to take down Al Franken.  He labeled Norm Coleman a "skirt chaser" and vowed to find people who could confirm the rumors.

A few days later, a right wing blogger in Minnesota defined Senator Coleman's marriage as an "unconventional marriage".

First ballot.  61% or so.

The DFL State Convention is in Rochester, MN right now.

Al Franken got 62% on the first ballot against Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

Al Franken acceptance speech:

Thanks family.  Thanks staff and volunteers and elected supporters and everyone in the room.

"Let me say something about Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

"You know, earlier in the questions-and-answers, I was asked, Why am I a Democrat?"

"I'm a Democrat because this is the only party which would have a Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer."

"This is the only party which would have a man of such compassion and wisdom, such a pure heart and such a strong soul."

"...We have seen the emergence of a new progressive majority..."

"...We want universal health care....I want to thank my friends in Labor...We want to address global warming and create green jobs...We want a world-class education for all our kids...and we want to restore our standing in the world starting with getting out of Iraq and bringing our troops home."

Donate to Al Franken at:
http://www.alfranken.com/

With both Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Al Franken saying they will abide by the Conventions endorsement the winner will likely be the DFL nominee for Senate (Somebody else could jump into the Primary)

Al Franken's 2000 Porn-O-Rama Playboy article continues to cause waves. Today Planned Parenthood called the piece "misogynistic and degrading to women" and Amy Klobuchar called it "entirely inappropriate." The entire DFL state congressional delegation has denounced the article to some degree or another.

Karl Rove needs no introduction.  We all know who he is, what he's done, and what he represents.

But now he's making it personal.  He's going to befoul my fair city of Rochester, MN.

And if that isn't enough...Ron Paul's going to be here, too.  So, I need your help.

So with less than half a year to go, it’s time for another look at all the 2008 Senate races.  There are 35 seats up for election because of a scenario in Wyoming and Mississippi where both seats are up, due to the passing of Craig Thomas and the resignation of Trent Lott, respectively.  Now obviously, quite a few of the races are considered "safe" for the incumbent.  So I’ll rank these in terms of tiers.  The top tier will be the races where the party holding the seat has a real shot of switching.  The second tier are races that could become top tier races, but are not at this point.  Tier III are ones where a major event would need to happen for the seat to come into play.  And the safe seats?  Well, Mike Gravel has a better shot at winning the presidency than those incumbents have of losing their races.

Follow me below the fold for all the races.  This is meant to be a primer for both newcomers and political junkies alike, so some of the information may seem repetitive for you junkies out there.  Also see my previous March diary to see what things have changed since my last update.