Tom Erickson

There’s still no ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court in the Norm Coleman-Al Franken dispute. The court released another regular Thursday morning batch of orders without a word on Minnesota’s U.S. Senate election. The word about the Coleman-Franken fight emblazoned across the cover of the Star Tribune is “agonizing,” but the story makes it sound more [...]

“I think it’s time for (Norm Coleman) to give up this fight,” writes conservative pundit and National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru after Al Franken widened his lead to 312 votes in a Minnesota courtroom Tuesday. The Albert Lea Tribune, which endorsed Coleman last fall, put it even more succinctly: “Throw in the towel.”

UPDATED: Former Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign Web site is down, and the campaign explains that it was “inundated by tens of thousands of hits” by visitors seeking details on “Al Franken’s efforts to disenfranchise thousands of Minnesota voters.” But liberal blogger and IT manager Aaron Landry doesn’t buy it. His conclusion: “This stunt is a completely fabricated lie.”

An Oct. 9 press release from campaign staffer Tom Erickson said that Sen. Norm Coleman would “hold a media availability” Friday morning. But when I arrived, Chuck Olsen of the citizen-videoblogging group The Uptake had already been refused entry. When I tried to enter, Erickson barred me entry, stating that the event, held in Coleman’s campaign office was for “credentialed” media only. When I asked how one gets such credentials, he said that only “legitimate” media were welcome. As journalists from local media filed past — Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman, MinnPost reporter Joe Kimball, TPT host Eric Eskola — Coleman staffers refused to share what criteria it used to determine what makes a news operation legit.