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As the stimulus bill and the rest of the new administration's legislative agenda gets off the ground, we've been paying a lot of atention to the senate and its archaic traditions. A more contemporary institutional oddity is that the great state of Minnesota is still lacking a senator, as the strange court battle surrounding the race grinds towards what seems to be the inevitable victory of Al Franken. No media outlet has had better coverage of the whole mess than TPM, and today they're reporting that former Senator Norm Coleman's campaign has suffered a serious setback:
Yesterday the court heard arguments regarding the campaigns' positions on 19 categories of rejected absentee ballot envelopes, and whether the voters should be cut sufficient slack as to allow the ballot in. The court has now handed down a ruling on 13 of those categories -- and it's an emphatic No.The addition of Franken to the senate would be a small but significant change to the legislative calculus in the chamber, representing another key step towards the magic and arbitrary 60 votes it will take to pass any progressive legislation in the coming months. With 59 Democratic senators, only one Republican would be needed to win cloture votes if the Democratic leadership can keep their own caucus in line. Though it sometimes seems that the closer the majority gets to 60, the harder it is to secure support from one minority senator who is sure to be put in the spotlight, it will tilt the the field a little further towards the bolder vision of the House and the president.Say, wonder if Arlen Specter wants to give commerce secretary a shot? He's sure to face a tough challenge from a Democrat in 2010, already under fire from the right for his principled support of the stimulus bill (and equally "principled" tea-weakening provisions). You know Ed Rendell wouldn't roll over and appoint a conservative to the seat.
-- Tim Fernholz
