Thursday, November 13, 2008

Still counting votes in the land of 10,000 lakes

Democrats are holding their breath, waiting for the dust to clear and the votes to be counted in Minnesota. See, Democratic challenger, Al Franken, trailed "Stormin" Norman Coleman by a handful of votes, 204 to be exact (it was 800 on election night).

Coleman's been doing his doggone best to gum up the recount works by getting absentee votes tossed out. Franken probably doesn't stand a chance, and the taxpayers will end up paying extra, but seeing slimy Norm Coleman left standing in the rain would be worth it.

Back in 1998, Coleman, the former Democratic mayor of St. Paul, seemed like a slamdunk for governor. That was until former pro wrestler, Jesse Ventura, came out of nowhere to snatch victory from Coleman.

In 2002 in his first bid for a Senate seat, Coleman was trailing Minnesota legend, Paul Wellstone, when Wellstone was tragically killed in a plane crash. Coleman was the winner by default, and off to DC he went.

[from MN Blue] Coleman became a cheerleader for the invasion of Iraq and has a 100% voting record in favor of President Bush's War. In addition, Norm has provided little oversight of the Iraq War. As Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations he had the unique ability to investigate anything. Instead, he overlooked the incompetence and corruption of the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq. Whether it was torture, lack of armor for our troops, pallets of lost dollars or no-bid contracts, Coleman couldn't be bothered investigating.

Coleman, tanned and well-coiffed, consistently voted for war-time tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, all the while borrowing billions from the Chinese to prosecute the war. Coleman also supported a bankruptcy bill written by the credit card companies. Additionally, Coleman has written legislation to help bail out the banking industry from the subprime mortgage crisis on the backs of homeowners facing foreclosure. As an incumbent senator, Coleman has enabled our current economic tailspin, which shows little evidence of bottoming out soon.

This time, Coleman had his hands full with Franken, comedian, and former Air America talk host.

Both parties eagerly await the final vote tally, as the Senate's balance of power teeters on the results.

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