Monday, March 23, 2009

Dubious Achievement

Minnesota has passed a milestone of sorts. The disputed Senate election between Norm Coleman and Al Franken will now become the longest such deadlock in the state's history.

The 1962 gubernatorial election, to which I alluded here, was held on November 6, 1962. The winner of the recount, Karl Rolvaag, took office on March 25, 1963, after an interval of 139 days.

As of today, 139 days have passed since election day 2008, and there is no end in sight to litigation arising out of the recount.

National Republican leaders have been quoted in recent days as saying that Coleman should pursue every possible appeal. Had I still been a Minnesota resident, I would have voted for Coleman. But is it worth pursuing a total war strategy over this?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It's good to hear that even though you might have been a Coleman supporter, you are questioning whether he should still be questioning the election results. What I want to know is, where are all the Bush supporters from 2000 who were demanding a quick end to the legal wrangling over the Florida recount? Could it be that most of them now support endless recounts and court challenges now that it is the Republican Party that has something to gain by dragging out this process?

schiller1979 said...

Joe, thanks for your comment.

Of course, flexible principles are in evidence here. Neither party is, for the most part, saying the same things it did in 2000.

I'm not expecting a sudden cure for hypocrisy in politics. My main point is that a stratgegy of stringing along the appeals with the sole purpose (I might be wrong, but it seems this way to me) of delaying Franken's entry into the Senate, is not a good course of action for the Republican Party.