I haven’t been following the Minnesota Senate recount very closely, but apparently Norm Coleman still has no intention of abandoning his Ahab-like quest to retain his seat even though he lost the election:
Republican Norm Coleman on Tuesday refused to rule out an appeal if a three-judge panel rules against his challenge in what he called “the race that never ends.”
….Coleman said his lawyers will wrap up their arguments by the end of the week, and he expected a ruling to come down in a “couple weeks.” If he loses, he would not say whether he would try to appeal a ruling with the state Supreme Court.
“I’m not ruling it in or ruling it out, let’s see what the court does and hopefully they’ll do the right thing,” Coleman said. He added: “This process already is Tolstoy-esque.”
Considering that Coleman is the guy primarily responsible for this Tolstoy-esque state of affairs, his complaint here is a little rich. Still, as much as I’d like to blame him for this whole mess, I’m not entirely sure I can. Speaking purely as a layman, what really appalls me about all this is how slowly the courts are moving. Are the issues really so complex that things can’t be expedited a wee bit? Are Minnesotans really bound and determined to make Florida look like a model of efficiency and dispatch? What’s going on with these guys?