Coleman needs a miracle

By: Josh Kraushaar
Politico
February 18, 2009

Three months after Election Day, the Minnesota showdown between Al Franken and Norm Coleman continues, and the ever-changing storyline has now settled on a central question:

Does Coleman have any real chance of retaining his Senate seat?

The answer, according to state political and legal analysts, is that it would take a miracle. Miracles do happen in politics — but four weeks into a court case that will decide the winner of Minnesota’s tortured Senate race, the GOP incumbent is facing just-about-insurmountable hurdles to overcome the 225-vote deficit he was saddled with at the end of the official recount.

The court itself has not yet counted a single vote. Instead, a three-judge panel is considering a pool of disputed ballots and steadily ruling which are legitimate and should be counted, and which should be thrown out.

Coleman wants most of the ballots included, believing they will tilt the election in his favor. But so far, the court’s decisions favor the Democratic challenger, comedian and author Al Franken, experts say. And that trend is expected to continue.

“Norm Coleman’s life support system is slowly weakening,” said Larry Jacobs, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance.

(More here.)