Coleman shrugs: "Certainly there's uncertainty"

The three judges presiding over Norm Coleman’s contest of Al Franken’s election to the U.S. Senate ruled late Thursday against the Minnesota Democrat’s motion to dismiss. (They also denied a Coleman motion.) As if to rub sand in Franken’s owie, Coleman told The Associated Press he would have readily lost to anyone else:

“I think any Democrat other than Al Franken would have been elected.”

Coleman continued:

A Minnesota-bred, traditional Democratic candidate probably could have waltzed into office in this cycle.

As the AP points out, Franken actually is Minnesota-bred. (Coleman is not.) More from Coleman, apparently unafraid to utter the M-word in reference to his new job:

I need to pay the mortgage. I’m not part of the millionaire’s club in the Senate.

As for a future at a job other than his old one, Coleman struck a philosophical note he’s hit before:

I’m not defined by being a senator.

In a separate order, the judges denied Coleman’s motion to have local election officials across the state send their rejected absentee ballots to the court in St. Paul. The order also denied another Coleman motion to require Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to turn over absentee ballots envelopes that were opened in the final stage of the statewide recount as well as challenged ballots, polling place incident reports and recount summary statements.