John Cornyn

“We’ll support Norm to the bitter end,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn last March. This month, Norm Coleman’s end as a U.S. Senator became a bit less bitter for Cornyn when the Texas Republican took Coleman’s old spot on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

At a luncheon at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s headquarters today, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that Republicans were ready to back more lawsuits if former Sen. Norm Coleman loses his appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. “We’ll do everything we can to support Norm as long as he has appellate remedies to pursue,” Cornyn said, adding, “I’m not suggesting Norm has this plan in mind.”

Creaking noises are starting to come from once-solid supporters of Norm Coleman as they wait for the Minnesota Supreme Court to decide his fate. “The situation out there is entirely up to the people in Minnesota,” a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman tells the National Journal’s Hotline, suggesting a stark shift from the NRSC’s recent [...]

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman won’t take his election contest to federal courts. That’s the direction unnamed Coleman confidants say the former senator is leaning, according to Roll Call. “He will be done,” one GOP source said.

As Minnesota Public Radio’s Tom Scheck puts it, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan has thrown Norm Coleman under the bus. In a web-only interview with Katie Couric — now being circulated by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — Ryan responded to a question about whether Al Franken will eventually take Minnesota’s second senate seat. Without [...]

For Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s fourth appearance on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” Wednesday night to discuss the Norm Coleman-Al Franken election-contest lawsuit, Maddow popped the question: “If Mr. Coleman appeals to the state Supreme Court, and then the state Supreme Court rules that one of these two men have won the election, you will sign an election certificate [...]

Republicans are generally egging Norm Coleman on in his legal contest of the U.S. Senate results. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn and other party leaders have made it clear that they’d be perfectly happy if the proceedings drag on for years since it keeps the Democrats stuck at 58 senate seats. But not [...]

Judging by statements from leading senators, World War III will arrive around April Fool’s Day this year. That’s when Majority Leader Harry Reid pledged to install fellow Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota’s vacant Senate seat. But if Democrats try any such thing before former Sen. Norm Coleman has exhausted legal challenges to Franken’s recount victory [...]

Where do national Republican leaders, who are helping bankroll Norm Coleman’s election contest fight, see Minnesota’s Senate saga going? “We’re in completely,” National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tells The Politico. “We’ll support Norm to the bitter end.”

Here’s another open admission that the court challenge to the statewide recount that Al Franken won last month is as much about current political advantage for Senate Republicans as it is about any hope of Norm Coleman actually regaining his old seat. This is what Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who is also chair of the [...]