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Norm Coleman Photo: WDCpix
Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman “deserves an easy, humdrum, conventional political race some day,” said his former colleague, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. The remark was part of a bipartisan, tag-team series of testaments to Coleman that consumed an hour on the Senate floor this morning. Sen. Amy Klobuchar thanked Coleman for bowing out of his election contest with Al Franken.
“Senator Coleman made a very difficult decision and he did it with such grace,” the Minnesota Democrat said, adding:
He could have appealed that [Minnesota Supreme Court] decision. He could have gone to federal court. It was his right. But he made a decision which he felt was best for the state of Minnesota, and the state thanks him for that. I personally thank him for that.
In Sen. Harry Reid’s tribute, the Majority Leader said Coleman had been courteous and gentlemanly in his interactions, which included a protracted post-election standoff in which Reid several times backed down from vows to seat Franken early.
If Coleman agrees with Alexander about seeking something more humdrum than three wild statewide elections so far, he may not decide to enter the already crowded 2010 race for Minnesota governor. Last week, he said he’d announce his plans soon after the Fourth of July.
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3 Comments »
Comment posted July 9, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
It took an hour of pageantry to send Norm off? Gawd, the “celebrity” of politicians gets worse all the time. Spend some time trying to solve some problems you crooks!
Comment posted July 10, 2009 @ 8:19 am
Saying goodbye from the world’s most exclusive club… a sure sign that our political system leaves much to be desired in having a memory.
I suppose that one should not speak ill of the “dead” but somebody might have mentioned that Coleman refused to oversee no-bid contracts, soldiers getting electrocuted by shoddy work in Iraq and a host of other problems he was supposed to pay attention to as Chairman. This empty suit should never have been a US Senator in the first place.
Comment posted July 10, 2009 @ 1:13 pm
“Deserves?” By what logic does anyone “deserve” any easy election campaign? Election campaigns should be fair and civil, but should also, in a healthy democracy, contentious.
Let’s all be nice about Norm now (de mortuis nil nisi bonum applies to political careers, I suppose), but for everyone’s sake, let’s hope for spirited and difficult campaigns.
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