Photo: The UpTake

DNC Chair Kaine’s statement:

On behalf of the Democratic National Committee, I congratulate Al Franken on his election to the United States Senate. Senator-Elect Franken must be seated as soon as possible. The people of Minnesota rightfully elected Al Franken to serve in the Senate and there is far too much work to be done for the state and the nation to drag this process on any longer.

Today’s ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court marks the end of the line for Norm Coleman’s legal battle. For too long, Minnesotans have been denied their proper representation in Congress while Norm Coleman pursued his political ambitions. In light of today’s decision, Norm Coleman should concede and Governor Pawlenty should sign the election certificate which Al Franken is entitled to, and which he pledged to do upon guidance from the court. Doing so will finally put this saga to an end and give Minnesotans their full voice in the U.S. Senate.

Kiplinger.com‘s Washington Matters blog says,

… it’s almost time for Coleman to do the right thing and accept defeat. … It’s almost time for him — and Gov. Pawlenty — to do the right thing and give up this fruitless quest. That means letting the Minnesota Supreme Court make the final decision and not drawing this out unnecessarily with a federal challenge. There comes a point when a legitimate legal right becomes a frivolous lawsuit, and we’re almost there.

In an editorial that appears in today’s print edition, USA Today wrote:

The further Coleman’s case goes up the judicial ladder, the more strained its reasoning sounds. It is one thing to ask a trial court to review the work of election authorities to make sure they carefully followed the law and their own guidelines. It is another to say that in making a series of tough calls on individual ballots, they grievously violated some important legal or constitutional principle. … We would like to think that candidates would put the public interest ahead of their ambitions. They might choose not to litigate elections endlessly.

The National Review has led a conservative drumbeat over the last week announcing that Coleman’s parade is over. Stepping up as the weekend’s drum majorette was Washington, D.C. editor Kate O’Beirne, speaking on the Bloomberg TV show “Political Capital”:

Norm Coleman is not going to get credit for stepping aside graciously if he does it only after he’s exhausted all court appeals. It seems, I think, he was outhustled and outlawyered. It might well be time for him to acknowledge a Franken win.

O’Beirne on “Political Capital” (comments on Coleman begin at the 4:35 mark):

The Star Tribune’s Lori Sturdevant witnessed the ballot-counting at the election-contest trial last week that increased Franken’s margin to 312 votes. In the newspaper’s lead Sunday opinion column, she wrote that that outcome left Minnesotans muttering, “Enough.” She grants Coleman time for one last appeal — but no more:

A state Supreme Court ruling — and pray, make it quick — should be the final word on who won this thing. The certifying and seating of a senator ought to follow hard on its heels. … Granted, a federal court case is an option for a politician who can tap his national party’s deep pockets. But a federal case, running way into the summer and maybe fall, would amount to putting his legal right — and his party’s interest in delay — ahead of Minnesota’s constitutional right to be represented by two senators.

(A Star Tribune news article today, headlined “State’s high court may not be the last word in recount,” explores Coleman’s federal-court options, but the same experts the Strib quotes have told the Minnesota Independent the contest is most likely to end at the state’s high court.)

Newsweek rejects the assertion by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas and National Republican Senatorial Committee chair) that Democrats now urging Coleman to quit are hypocrites in view of Al Gore’s legal efforts after the 2000 presidential election. Labeling the two cases “apples and oranges,” Newsweek notes that Minnesota’s fight is over a lesser seat but has dragged on longer and adds “don’t expect the Supreme Court to step in this time.”

The last word from the weekend goes to the off-the-wall, satirical blog Political Championship Wrestling, which early on perceived the Coleman-Franken fight as a no-holds-barred grudge match. In PCW’s alternative universe, real-life politicians battle like professional wrestlers, dealing out bodyslams and wielding folding chairs. In a new installment, Minnesota’s Senate election rivals “celebrate being named the best feud of 2008 by restarting it. Franken and Coleman brawled at the podium mere seconds after being presented with the awards.”

The Grand Forks Herald editorializes today that if Coleman is “pursuing his appeal only (or even mainly) to keep the Senate seat vacant, then he should withdraw.”

It was only Tuesday morning that The Politico’s Ben Pershing offered this prediction:

My guess is that most of the media — editorial boards, etc. — will hold off on calling for Coleman to concede at least until after the Minnesota Supreme Court looks at the case.

But that was before (or during, actually) the election-contest court’s counting of 351 more ballots, extending Democrat Al Franken’s lead from 225 to 312 votes.

As noted here Tuesday, an editorial in the Albert Lea Tribune  – which like the Grand Forks Herald, endorsed Coleman last fall – quickly advised Coleman to “throw in the towel,” and the National Review Online said it’s time he “give up this fight.”

With a new editorial headlined “Norm Coleman – Go Away!,” City Pages maintains its stance (from January) that Coleman should concede.

MSNBC’s First Read blog says, “The question for many is no longer whether Coleman is going to lose; rather, it’s when he’s going to lose.”

Brian Lambert writes in his “Lambert to the Slaughter” blog that Coleman and GOP leaders ”have effectively won their case in that they have successfully deprived the people of Minnesota and the Democratic Senate a vote for four critical months.” He concludes:

So, having achieved “mission (pretty much) accomplished,” someone claiming to practice journalism for the greater public good should then summon the courage to tell Coleman that having won, the time is now right to concede.

Indeed, the outlier appears to be the Star Tribune editorial page. The writers there come close but don’t actually call for Coleman to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. They do, however, go out on a limb and urge the justices to take his case:

Coleman appears intent on giving the high court that opportunity (to review election issues); if he does, we hope they seize it.

And while it’s not explicitly advice, National Review Online readers got another dose of discouraging news about Coleman today. This time it’s from Power Line’s Scott Johnson, who gives his exceptional criticism of Coleman’s post-election performance this twist:

The erosion of Senator Coleman’s approximately 215-vote lead over Franken after the election canvass, and the emergence of Al Franken with a 225-vote lead over Coleman on January 5 after the recount, have given rise to the implication that Franken stole the election. …

For a while, I thought so, too. If I had observed the events through the media outside Minnesota, I would still think so. As a Minnesotan with a closer view, with friends lodged in every corner of the post-election proceedings, I have a different perspective on the chain of events that has brought Coleman to his imminent loss to Franken. …

I can’t find a single good thing to say about (Franken) except that he didn’t steal the election.

The story comes as media outlets near and far (one of each, actually) issue calls for Coleman to concede. Knaak’s comments to the White Bear Press echo statements early this month in which he seemed to dangle the chance that Coleman might quit the contest.

In contrast to Knaak’s concession talk, White Bear Press Regional Editor Mark Nicklawske interprets a Coleman camp style point as a sign that the former Republican senator’s supporters are in it for the long haul:

Knaak and his colleagues were issued gray fleece sweaters with the words “Coleman Recount Team” embroidered on the chest. The sweaters look warm and comfortable, good for a long Minnesota winter.

Looking back, it’s clearly been a long haul already. Jan. 17–18 was only Knaak’s second weekend off in two months, taxing his ability to find time for his regular clients or family — though he makes regular visits to his mother, Dee Knaak (who, like her son, is a former state senator).

Knaak expresses satisfaction with his often high-visibility role, even as he appears to be eclipsed by the star power of new legal-team member, Joe Friedberg. And he doesn’t toe the (subsequently decided-upon?) party line that the trial will be boring:

“It’ll be very dramatic,” said Knaak. “I’ve got a very good relationship with the press and I’m still the explainer on a lot of these things, but we’re trying to keep the focus on the litigation part of it right now. I’m anticipating that you’ll be seeing a lot more of (Friedberg) than me.”

It’s true that 49 percent of respondents said they disagree with Coleman’s decision to challenge the recount results. But when asked directly what they thought should happen next, only 44 percent said Coleman should concede. And that’s significantly better (for Coleman) than the 55 percent who told the same pollsters a month ago that the loser should not file a legal challenge in court if he thought the process was unfair. (UPDATE: The Daily Kos released a similar poll the day after this one.)

If you read about the Minnesota recount in a book, you’d think it was fiction. Here are some more nuggets from a reading of the SurveyUSA poll results, organized by (mock) book titles.

Men Are from Franken, Women Are from Coleman

KSTP and others emphasize that smaller percentages of Minnesotans in the new poll approve of Franken and Coleman (37 and 38 percent, respectively) than voted for either man on Election Day (42 percent each). But hidden within the new results is a growing gender gap — not that it matters, electorally speaking. Men disapproving of Franken’s handling of the recount comprised 52 percent of the sample pool a month ago; now only 42 percent of guys disapprove of Franken generally. But women approving of Franken in the recount has fallen from 45 percent in December to a shockingly low 30 percent generally favorable today.

Meanwhile, Coleman’s esteem sank in the eyes of both sexes. Women approving of Coleman’s handling of the recount was 48 percent on Dec. 4, with only 38 percent generally approving of him on Jan. 7. Men dropped even more dramatically, from 54 percent to 37 percent.

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Recount

The only statistically significant “0 percent” that appears on the pollster’s cross-tabs is for the number of Republicans who said they feel the recount was unfair to Franken. (Interesting: There was no “unfair to both candidates” option in either poll taken after the election.)

How to Get Richie Without Even Trying

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s approval rating remains high, falling only from 61 percent a month ago to 56 percent today. His negatives snuck up a bit more, however, with the proportion of voters polled who disapprove of the job he’s done on the recount rising from 26 percent to 34 percent.

KSTP’s report on the survey:

The new poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent, or in the case of the question about Ritchie, 4.4 percent.

Clockwise from upper left: Coleman, Franken, Rolvaag, Andersen

It would seem out of character at this point for Norm Coleman to concede the race for the Senate seat he occupied until Saturday, even after this morning’s negative ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court and the certification of the vote in favor of rival Al Franken by the State Canvassing Board this afternoon. But it could happen — just read between the lines of his recount lawyer’s remarks yesterday, or listen to former senator and Vice President Walter Mondale today. A close reading of what Coleman recount attorney Fritz Knaak said on Sunday suggests that it’s Coleman’s choice whether to proceed with an election contest. And that implies that Coleman might at least be considering not contesting the election — in other words, conceding.

That’s exactly what Mondale had in mind when he told Minnesota Public Radio listeners today that he recommends the example of Republican Gov. Elmer L. Andersen, who, as the incumbent in Minnesota’s last big statewide recount in 1962–63, bowed out rather than pursue an appeal to the state’s highest court. “When we got to a point like this,” Mondale recalled (and he was not only there but, as the state’s popular attorney general, was very nearly a candidate himself), “Elmer Andersen said, ‘No, this has gone on long enough.”

The parallel isn’t exact, because by the time Andersen conceded it was March 23, 1963, and the election had already been a three-judge review of the sort that would look at the current vote if Coleman files for an election contest. But the candidates’ words from that time could stand as a model (or, more likely, as a contrast) for Minnesota’s current recount rivals.

Gov. Elmer L. Andersen:

Today ends one chapter, admittedly a shorter chapter than I intended, but there are more to be written. I am disappointed but not the least discouraged; I am defeated but not the least disheartened.

Lt. Gov. Karl Rolvaag (of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, who succeeded Andersen as governor after Andersen’s concession):

I am sure the decision made this afternoon by Governor Andersen was a most difficult one. Had he chosen to go on and exercise his right or appeal in this matter, I hope that no voice would have been raised against that decision. I do not believe it would be possible for any person to adequately describe the tremendous pressures, the anxieties and the physical demands placed upon the parties to this recount action. … While at no time during these long months did I ever despair of emerging the victor, there were times when the situation became seemingly unendurable. I would assume that through these many months Mr. Andersen was constantly beset by similar pressures which only he could begin to describe. To continue in office in the face of the vicissitudes of the contest we have just completed must be an agony of its own.