colemannormEven as Norm Coleman’s prospects for regaining his Senate seat subside, his potential entry in the race to replace retiring Gov. Tim Pawlenty next year is getting a push in the media — if nowhere else.

Today it’s a post at Politico that speculates on whether Coleman could make the jump from confirmed ex-senator to governor. Unnamed insiders say he’s really, really not thinking about being governor. Named outsiders say it’s a moot point: Coleman’s done with elective office whether he wants to be or not.

Coleman sought the governorship in 1998 (and lost to Jesse Ventura) — and would have sought it again in 2002 if the White House hadn’t ordered him to swap races with Pawlenty. (That turned out to be a good move as both Republicans won in three-way contests.)

The problem — as David Weigel writes at the Minnesota Independent’s sister site, The Washington Independent — is that polls show “Minnesotans simply don’t like the guy.”

Weigel makes an instructive contrast between Coleman and Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.). Burris is also unelected in 2008, also beset with scandal, and yet no one’s floating him for another office — because, Weigel writes, “that would be crazy.”