Minnesota Senate Race

Dogs and cats must now be living together in peaceful harmony.  The Strib has endorsed Norm Coleman.

Truly, the world has been turned upside down. 

Money quotes:

Count this newspaper among the Minnesota voices that long for a lessening of partisan polarization and a return to constructive problem-solving in Washington. If demonization of the partisan opposition continues to be the political coin of this realm, effectiveness of American democracy will be diminished.

Independent judgment, exercised on behalf of the best interests of the country and state, is what we hope to see from our U.S. senators. With that hope in mind, this newspaper recommends the reelection of Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

The more independent, pragmatic Coleman emerged when he helped speed money to Minneapolis for a new Interstate 35W bridge; when he promoted tax credits for renewable energy investment; when he pushed for larger Pell Grants for needy college students; when he stood up to President Bush on extending publicly subsidized health insurance, including MinnesotaCare, to more poor children and their parents.

He showed good judgment most recently when, despite a tide of constituent opposition, he voted to authorize spending $700 billion to inject capital into banks and thaw a credit freeze. He rightly judged that quick action was needed to avert serious damage to the nation's economy.{...}

We bank our hope for a less polarized America with Coleman, despite accord with DFL challenger Al Franken on some important issues. However, we consider his recommendation for a "no" vote on the economic bailout package the wrong call at the wrong time.

Franken is a gifted communicator. His best-selling books skewering the Bush administration and the Republican right helped revitalize the Democratic Party when it was on the ropes. He's an effective critic. It isn't as easy to envision him as a constructive force for bipartisan legislation.{...}

While a. newspaper endorsements don't really mean much in terms of swinging voters one way or another and b. it's laughable that the editorial board of the Strib now suddenly wants more bipartisanship (HA!), it's nonetheless laudable that they called this one correctly.  They finally looked past their own liberal agenda and saw the truth.  I doubt this conversion is on the level of St. Paul being struck blind in Damascus, but it's nice to see they finally have some sense, because I've been wondering about that for quite some time now. 

Al Franken is a joke candidate.  If elected, he will be an embarrassment along the lines of Jesse Ventura and, honestly, we don't need that.  If Al Franken gets elected, we will be the laughingstock of the nation. And that's no joke.  He will offend people, he will polarize them....he will do everything we already know doesn't work.  Norm Coleman can serve us better and more effectively than Al any day of the week and twice on Sundays.  He knows what kind of work needs to be done.  And, quite frankly, as much as I don't appreciate long-time incumbents, along the lines of Robert Byrd, I do think we need someone in the senate who knows the ropes, and won't be starting out at square one.  Minnesota's senate seats have churned through a lot of people in the past ten or twelve years.  It's time for some consistency.  Because, beyond the fact that he'd be a freshman senator, Al Franken knows literally nothing about being a senator and what the business of governing entails.  I'm pretty sure he just wants the gig because he can always be on tee vee whilst bloviating on the senate floor, even if it's only C-Span.  C-Span, undoubtedly, has a bigger audience than Air America ever did. 

*with huge apologies to Steve-o for stealing his line.