The Fix: Florida lesson for Coleman is Jennings v. Buchanan, not Bush v. Gore
Thursday, April 02, 2009 at 6:29 pm
- 3 Comments
“Should Norm Coleman Concede?” asks the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza today in his blog, The Fix. Cillizza recommends the former senator look to Florida for a lesson, and he doesn’t mean Bush vs. Gore. Instead, Cillizza says, Democrat Christine Jennings’ declining political fortunes after a drawn-out dispute over a close congressional election suggests that quitting now might be the better part of valor for Coleman.
Writes Cillizza:
One need only look to Florida for a cautionary tale in pushing a race too far/long. In 2006, Democrat Christine Jennings came up just a few hundreds votes short against Rep. Vern Buchanan (R) in the 13th district. Democrats quickly noted that there were 18,000 so-called “undervotes” (where a vote was cast for other offices but not the congressional race) and Jennings exhausted her legal options in a back and forth that spanned well into 2007.
By the time she prepared to run again in 2008, voters seemed to be over Jennings — having been exposed to her on and off for the last several years. Despite President Obama’s strong showing in Florida, Buchanan crushed Jennings by 18 points.
Some interesting details he doesn’t mention:
- Like Coleman, Jennings is a convert to her party. She’s a banker who used to be a Republican. Coleman switched from Democrat to Republican while serving as St. Paul’s mayor.
- Voters’ failure to carefully complete their ballots was blamed for Jennings’ low-triple-digit loss in 2006. Coleman suffered when various voter errors kept many ballots out of reconsideration by Minnesota’s election contest court, in a ruling issued Tuesday.
- The seat Jennings tried twice to gain was vacated by former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a key figure in the 2000 Bush v. Gore dispute. Another key figure in that titanic electoral struggle, Bush attorney Ben Ginsberg, is now Coleman’s attorney.
3 Comments
Comment posted April 3, 2009 @ 9:00 am
Right now, Norm’s political future–or present, for that matter–is secondary. For his backers, the biggest reason to continue the fight is to deny a seat to a Democratic Senator. Norm is just a patsy here: it doesn’t matter if he wins or loses, as long as the seat stays vacant.
You would think he would be smart enough to realize that, and have enough pride to withdraw with some dignity.
Comment posted April 5, 2009 @ 1:23 pm
The other main difference is that Pelosi did not protest the seating of Buchanan … the Dems could have held out until the lawsuits were settled. Coryn isn’t Pelosi.
Comment posted April 6, 2009 @ 5:51 pm
GOV PLENTY to People of Minnesota: Screw-YOU; I intend to LET FEDERAL courts DECIDE!
Never thought I’d LIVE to see the day when this Sovereign State’s Elected LEADER would BACK his OWN (corrupt) political party OVER THE PEOPLE OF this STATE who elected him. IF Minnesota’s own GOVERNOR PLENTY does NOT support our STATE’S JUDICIARY … WHY is HE still IN OFFICE? The People of the Sovereign state of Minnesota cast their ballots in a FAIR & HONEST election. Like ALL ELECTIONS, none is perfect; there are flaws –just as there are FLAWS in human beings. BUT for the past TWO HUNDRED-PLUS years, THOSE FLAWS have always been considered to BALANCE OUT each other. THAT IS, until recent elections SHOWED THE PEOPLE voting AGAINST the Republican Party.
NOW, the People get ROYALLY (republicanly) SCREWED by having their votes SET ASIDE and LITIGATED until hell FREEZES OVER! BY WHAT RIGHT do these party HACKS interfere with the elective process –AND cast aspersions on this state’s elected/appointed/hired officials who fairly DETERMINED our results? NOT one instance of fraud or deception has been found! NOT ONE.
THIS was a righteous election whose outcome SHOULD BE DETERMINED by Minnesotans -NOT GOP party hacks!
RECALL THE GOVERNOR if he refuses to honor the MINNESOTA COURTS’ decisions
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