Al Franken wins court ruling, Coleman concedes

Al Franken as Senator and why not him? [2]  Today the Minnesota Supreme Court  unanimously declared Al Franken as winner [3] (pdf) and Norm Coleman has conceded.  This takes any pressure off the Governor who will sign the election certificate. Franken will be sworn in next week and while it is remotely possible that Republicans will hold a symbolic protest, Franken can be seated with a majority vote and I doubt the Republicans will officially do anything.  The right wing media machine will talk about "uncounted ballots" and maybe "stolen elections" to poison the well as much as possible for Franken; but Franken will laugh off those sour grapes.

As I wrote recently [4]the Republicans have been running out the clock on this election hoping to keep Franken out for as long as they can and maybe even, through a legal hail mary pass, get another shot at the election including going to the supreme court.  In fact, since I wrote, we have learned that the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee spent almost 1 million dollars on the campaign in one month alone. [5]

The good news for Coleman is he gets to use any leftover money for the two lawsuits [6]he is facing. This ruling likely was as persuasive to drop out as the unanimous ruling against him. 

Maybe it is not to late for Franken to come in swinging for the public option on health care.  His political mentor Paul Wellstone [7] was, by American standards, liberal in his views on this front and Franken has made it an issue.  Plus he can be a key vote in the Employee Free Choice Act if he can hit the ground running, something he will have to do given that eight months has gone by since the election. 

But now, to the chagrin of the Limbaughs [8] and other lying liars everywhere, [9] it is Franken's time.

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