[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J25cDNVy1fM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
The Minnesota State Supreme Court unanimously declared Al Franken the winner today in the state’s closely contested US Senate race, prompting Republican Norm Coleman to concede:
“Ours is a government of laws, not men and women. The Supreme Court of Minnesota has spoken; I respect its decision and I will abide by its result. It’s time for Minnesotans to come together under the leaders it has chosen, and move forward. And I join all Minnesotans in congratulating our newest U.S. senator, Al Franken.”
Coleman’s legal challenge had long since become futile and obstructionist, but in the end he deserves credit for being a helluva lot more gracious than Dino Rossi, who to this day has never accept the outcome of the 2004 election and court challenge:
Rossi said because the “political makeup of the Washington Supreme Court” makes it “almost impossible to overturn this ruling, I am ending this election contest.”
Nobody ever accused Rossi of being a mensch.
Apart from that, two main observations: 1) I guess Washington’s election contest statutes aren’t all that bad by comparison after all. I mean, imagine how disruptive it would have been had Rossi’s lawyers prevented us from having a governor for six months?
And 2), Franken’s victory is sign of redemption to foul-mouthed satirists everywhere. If he could be taken seriously in straight-laced Minnesota, I suppose there’s hope yet for me here in hippie-dippy Seattle should I ever throw my hat into the ring. Voters really can tell the difference between being serious and being solemn, even if that nuance sometimes eludes our editorialists.