Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.): It's About Time

    

Class came belatedly to Norm Coleman, but at last the national Republican establishment allowed him to muster some grace on Tuesday and concede to Al Franken after suffering a 5-0 trouncing in the Supreme Court of Minnesota.
     Democrat Al Franken succeeds Coleman in the seat once held by Paul Wellstone, the Democrat killed in a plane crash. Franken and Wellstone have in common a terrific sense of humor that's generally lacking in the Senate.
      The Franken-Coleman recount controversy went on so long -- more than seven months -- that I got impatient with being begged for money from the Franken forces, and stopped taking their phone calls. I just wanted it all to end. It was an outrageous legal battle that disenfranchised Minnesotans, but the stakes were so high for Republicans -- losing the nominal ability to filibuster Democratic bills if the Democrats got a 60th Senate seat -- that I suppose they can't be blamed for fighting as tenaciously as they did.
       Some expected Republicans to take the Minnesota election case to the federal courts, ultimately ending up before the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court, friendly confines if there ever were any. I'm amazed that they didn't do it. Is there at long last a sense of shame?
       Now that it's over, let's get Franken sworn in as soon as possible so we can put this historic but unfortunate episode behind us. But we can't expect an automatic 60 Democratic votes to block any and all GOP filibusters. There are conservative Democrats like Nebraska's Ben Nelson who have an eye to the home folks. Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy are ailing and absent. Republicans may become more successful at corraling the votes of Maine's two Republican women senators.
       Still, it's good news for Democrats -- and even better news for Franken, who is bound to be more successful in the Senate than he was on Air America radio.