Franken to Be Cast Adrift by Senate Dems

Any hopes Al Franken had of getting the Senate to overturn the election in Minnesota and declare him the winner in his battle against Norm Coleman appear to be dimming:

Republicans are increasingly optimistic that Senate Democrats will shy away from deciding the fate of the still too close-to-call Minnesota Senate race, now that the prospect of a 60-seat, filibuster-resistant majority has been eliminated.

Speculation that the Senate might determine the contest between GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken peaked after an attorney for Franken suggested in late November that the outcome could be decided by the Senate, and after Majority Leader Harry Reid for the first time publicly raised his concerns that some absentee ballots might not be included in the final count.

But that was before Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoff victory by Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a development that dramatically altered the Democratic risk-to-return ratio. While the Constitution allows the Senate to be the ultimate arbiter of who serves in the chamber, there is far less political incentive to intervene now that a filibuster-resistant majority is no longer at stake.

"Saxby’s reelection ends the 2008 election for all intents and purposes. With Norm Coleman having won the Minnesota recount, the enthusiasm for overturning the results of an election will deflate rapidly,” said lobbyist Vin Weber, a former GOP congressman from Minnesota.

“The Franken campaign’s hopes that Minnesota would be the 60th seat are no longer relevant, and I suspect that moderate Democratic voices in the Senate will begin pouring cold water on the Franken-Reid effort to drag this matter onto the floor of the United States Senate," he said.

It looks like Franken was undone, not only by the DFL folks in Minnesota who voted for Obama but refused to support him, but by the rednecks in Georgia who insisted on sticking with Chambliss and dealt the Dems a big blow down there. For maybe the first time in his life Al needs to do the right thing and concede.