Coleman says election case shouldn’t end up in the Supreme Court

Roll Call reports that Norm Coleman says he doesn’t expect the fight to regain his U.S. Senate seat to be decided in the top court in the land. Before a lunch with GOP colleagues today, he reportedly said, “I’m not anticipating, at this point, being across the street,” gesturing toward the Supreme Court building. “In the end for me, fundamentally, it’s about making sure every vote is counted.” But that doesn’t mean he’ll go away quietly.

AOL’s Political Machine seems to think Coleman’s words suggest he “Won’t Take Franken to the Supreme Court” (as its headline reads), but his “at this point,” seems to offer a caveat. Coleman told reporters today he’s “not ruling out anything,” and that means, should the three-judge panel that heard his election contest offer a ruling in favor of challenger Al Franken, as Coleman’s attorney predicts, he may take his case to the state Supreme Court and/or a federal appeals court.

Coleman acknowledged the strange nature of the record-breaking delay in seating Minnesota’s second senator by suggesting a future chat with Franken about the protracted process. “At some point it is worth a conversation for the both of us and our families, it’s pretty surreal,” he said. “Here we are in the end of March, moving into April, not done yet.”