Coleman concede? His attorney implies he could, Mondale says he should

Clockwise from upper left: Coleman, Franken, Rolvaag, Andersen

It would seem out of character at this point for Norm Coleman to concede the race for the Senate seat he occupied until Saturday, even after this morning’s negative ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court and the certification of the vote in favor of rival Al Franken by the State Canvassing Board this afternoon. But it could happen — just read between the lines of his recount lawyer’s remarks yesterday, or listen to former senator and Vice President Walter Mondale today. A close reading of what Coleman recount attorney Fritz Knaak said on Sunday suggests that it’s Coleman’s choice whether to proceed with an election contest. And that implies that Coleman might at least be considering not contesting the election — in other words, conceding.

That’s exactly what Mondale had in mind when he told Minnesota Public Radio listeners today that he recommends the example of Republican Gov. Elmer L. Andersen, who, as the incumbent in Minnesota’s last big statewide recount in 1962–63, bowed out rather than pursue an appeal to the state’s highest court. “When we got to a point like this,” Mondale recalled (and he was not only there but, as the state’s popular attorney general, was very nearly a candidate himself), “Elmer Andersen said, ‘No, this has gone on long enough.”

The parallel isn’t exact, because by the time Andersen conceded it was March 23, 1963, and the election had already been a three-judge review of the sort that would look at the current vote if Coleman files for an election contest. But the candidates’ words from that time could stand as a model (or, more likely, as a contrast) for Minnesota’s current recount rivals.

Gov. Elmer L. Andersen:

Today ends one chapter, admittedly a shorter chapter than I intended, but there are more to be written. I am disappointed but not the least discouraged; I am defeated but not the least disheartened.

Lt. Gov. Karl Rolvaag (of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, who succeeded Andersen as governor after Andersen’s concession):

I am sure the decision made this afternoon by Governor Andersen was a most difficult one. Had he chosen to go on and exercise his right or appeal in this matter, I hope that no voice would have been raised against that decision. I do not believe it would be possible for any person to adequately describe the tremendous pressures, the anxieties and the physical demands placed upon the parties to this recount action. … While at no time during these long months did I ever despair of emerging the victor, there were times when the situation became seemingly unendurable. I would assume that through these many months Mr. Andersen was constantly beset by similar pressures which only he could begin to describe. To continue in office in the face of the vicissitudes of the contest we have just completed must be an agony of its own.