Minnesota Poll: Klobuchar Annhilates Everyone, Franken Does Well

PPP has some new polling out, with the main emphasis on Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D) 2012 reelection. And, no surprise, the insanely popular senior senator throttles everyone who could conceivably challenge her, including a whopping 15 point lead against former governor and presidential-wannabe Tim Pawlenty (who hasn't expressed any interest in the race). One might think that Klobuchar's sponsorship of SOPA might have dimmed her star a little, but apparently not.

Possibly more surprising is some early numbers for Sen. Al Franken (D), who isn't up for re-election until 2014. Franken squeaked past Norm Coleman in a 2008 nailbiter, and for that reason has long been viewed as vulnerable given his polarizing public figure and the high-water nature of 2008. But he's actually looking pretty decent, sporting a six point lead over Pawlenty (his most dangerous potential challenger) and a 15 point margin over Michele Bachmann.

I've mentioned before that, while Franken is kind of a dick, he's also been a stellar Senator. And I think a lot of Minnesotans have seen that he's serious about his job and serious about being a legislator, and that's what has him in such a strong political position even as Democratic political fortunes have taken generally taken a turn for the worse since 2008.

Franken Anti-Rape Bill Makes It Into Law

Despite worries it would be stripped out in conference (as well as Republican whines that they were actually being held accountable for their nay votes), the Franken anti-rape amendment was part of the defense appropriations bill President Obama just signed into law.

Congratulations, Senator Franken -- an excellent holiday gift to our men and women serving abroad.

Inouye to Strip Franken Anti-Rape Amendment?

There isn't any official confirmation on this, but sources are indicating that Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) may strip Al Franken's anti-rape amendment from the defense appropriations bill. Franken's amendment was a response to the horrifying case of Jamie Jones, a KBR contractor in Iraq who was allegedly gang-raped by co-workers, then locked in a crate when she attempted to report the incident to superiors. Upon finally being released from her kidnappers, she attempted to sue in American courts, only to be told that her contract contained a mandatory arbitration clause that would keep her out of court. Arbitration lacks critical due process and oversight protections found in the judiciary, and the nature of the arbitration business makes it intrinsically biased towards repeat-players like defense contractors against individual claimants like Ms. Jones. Forcing rape victims to go into arbitration is effectively a way of shielding their rapists. So Senator Franken's amendment simply prohibits the United States government from working with defense contractors who include these clauses in their contracts.

While again, we don't know for sure Sen. Inouye's plans with regards to this amendment, it's kind of one of those things where you have to assume the worst and come out firing. If he's barraged with a ton of public pressure for something he was going to do anyway, no big deal. If we wait for "confirmation" from something his office undoubtedly wants to keep very quiet, we'll probably be too late.

Franken Talks to Constituents

This is why it's good to have Al Franken (D-MN) in the Senate. Put simply, he's a wonk. This was a very wonky answer (series of answers, really). But it was a good one. He was calm, and treated constituents of all views (including the Tea Party woman who asked the first question) with respect -- by which I don't just mean politeness, but as fellow members of the democratic project who could be trusted to have a mature, reasonable discussion on the issue.

This is what democratic participation should be -- not howling about death panels and death books and God knows what else. Treating voters like adults, who understand and respect policy knowledge.

Sessions Gets Owned

There is an old lawyering maxim: Never ask a question you don't know the answer to. Senators presumably have their own, related maxim: Never make a snide comment unless you're absolutely sure it can't get thrown back in your face like a boomerang. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the Republican leading the Senate's anti-Sotomayor efforts, forgot that lesson and paid the price:

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), seeking to discredit Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy, cited her 2001 “wise Latina” speech, and contrasted the view that ethnicity and sex influence judging with that of Judge Miriam Cedarbaum, who “believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices.”

“So I would just say to you, I believe in Judge Cedarbaum’s formulation,” Sessions told Sotomayor.

“My friend Judge Cedarbaum is here,” Sotomayor riposted, to Sessions’ apparent surprise. “We are good friends, and I believe that we both approach judging in the same way, which is looking at the facts of each individual case and applying the law to those facts.”

Cedarbaum agreed.

“I don’t believe for a minute that there are any differences in our approach to judging, and her personal predilections have no effect on her approach to judging,” she told Washington Wire. “We’d both like to see more women on the courts,” she added.

Of course, we all know the intellectual firepower Jeff Sessions brings to the table. Which is why it is all the more appalling we let someone like Al Franken share the floor with him. After all, Franken is just like Ann Coulter, if by "just like" we mean "has sound, mainstream policy positions in contrast to Coulter's proud advocacy of massive civil and human rights violations." But they do both sometimes make vulgar jokes.

Junior and Senior

Jon Chait calls out Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) for condescending Al Franken:

[A]s I've written, and which Norm Ornstein attested on the Diane Rehm show yesterday, Franken is a policy wonk. Anybody who's spoken with him or read his books (as opposed to just read the titles) knows this. He probably knows more about public policy than 90% of his colleagues. I've never met Franken, but the inability of people to understand that somebody can have a career in comedy and satire and also knows a lot of public policy galls me.

There are plenty of folks who refuse to accept that Franken actually might be a smart, serious guy who is qualified for the job. Unfortunately, there is no reason for their fixation other than a deep, deep desire to hold onto a superficial, know-nothing form of political punditry.

Franken Wins

Note to Wendy Long: This is what a unanimous decision looks like.

I also want to express my near-total agreement with James Joyner:

I’ve maintained from the beginning of this fiasco that 1) the election was for all intents and purposes a tie and 2) Coleman, who was ahead when the initial counting stopped — and after the initial recount! — and saw some really weird things go against him, had every right to fight this in court but that 3) it has long been apparent that Franken was going to win and all Coleman’s tactics were achieving was denying Minnesotans their just representation in the Senate and therefore 4) he should have quit this farce some time back. It’s time to accept the inevitable and move on.

This was roughly my position too, and with Coleman agreeing to concede it seems as good a time as any to reiterate it.

Congratulations, Senator-elect Franken!

And There's....60!

Sen. Arlen Specter (R D-PA) shocks the political world with a party switch.

Yes, it might have been his only route for political survival. But he'd been a Republican for a long time, and even stuck his neck out by coming out against EFCA (a position which, bizarrely, he apparently is sticking to, which will make the Democratic primary as hellish as the Republican one would have been). I genuinely expected he would have retired first. But the modern day GOP is so infuriatingly alienating to his moderates that I guess Specter felt he had to take a stand.

Once Al Franken gets seated, this is a 60 seat majority in the Senate (although Specter says he wouldn't be an "automatic" vote for cloture). I assumed we'd have to wait until 2010 for that. But thanks to intractable Republican extremism, Channukah comes early.

Specter's whole statement can be found here.

Finishing Business

I've very deliberately avoided commenting on the ongoing Minnesota Senate drama. My reasons have been simple: In 2000, I believed that Vice President Al Gore had every right to litigate the outcome of the Florida election for as long as he believed (a) he actually received more votes than his opponent and (b) legal litigation was likely to change the result to reflect that outcome. Norm Coleman has that precise same right, and as long as he genuinely believes the preceding two conditions, he has the right to attempt to vindicate his rights in court.

But, it is becoming more and more clear that Sen. Coleman does not really believe either of these things. He is losing legal challenge after legal challenge, the courts are not budging to his interpretations, and now he's starting to convince folks to simply call a revote -- which boils down to "I admit that under the rules of the state of Minnesota, I lost the election -- but it was really, really close." That isn't good enough to support.

So when Michael Steele talks about "unfinished business" in Minnesota and asks contributors to "stop liberal Democrat comedian Al Franken from stealing Norm Coleman’s U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota," he's talking from nowhere. Al Franken is going to be seated as the senator from Minnesota because he won the race. By the skin of his teeth, after a recount, but he won the race.

Is it true that if Norm Coleman were Senator, it'd be more difficult for Barack Obama to pass his agenda? Sure. But that's only a relevant consideration if Coleman won his race. And he didn't.

UPDATE: Coleman makes it official; his attorneys are asking to set aside the election results.

Franken Squeaks Through

With all the challenged ballots allocated, Al Franken has opened up a 48 vote lead over incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman (MN). There are still a few things left to resolve (improperly excluded absentee ballots, potential duplicate ballots), so we can't call the race quite yet, and indeed won't have an official word until after New Year's. But neither of those two categories are expected to favor Coleman (indeed, the first likely points in Franken's direction), so at the moment we have to project an Al Franken victory.

Phew! Congratulations, Senator!

What's This Picture Worth?

This is the picture CNN has been using as its stock "Norm Coleman/Al Franken" piece. I like it, because it's spectacularly unflattering to both, yet entirely accurate. Coleman comes off as a slick loud-mouth jerk, which he essentially is. And Franken comes off as a know-it-all nerd with poor social skills, which is likewise pretty much true.

Score one for journalistic accuracy.

You Judge The Ballots

NPR has samples of some of the contested ballots in the Coleman/Franken Minnesota Senate election, and lets you vote on how you think they should be counted. Finally, a chance to prove you're smarter than a Floridian! Take a whack at it -- and remember, Minnesota operates under a loose "intent of the voter" standard.

My decisions:
1) Franken
2) Accept it (McCain)
3) Franken (this was, in my view, the closest call)
4) Franken
5) Franken ("Lizard People" wasn't bubbled in)
6) Franken
7) Coleman
8) Franken
9) Barkley
10) Barkley
11) Coleman

MN-Senate Poll

My dad will be thrilled to see these numbers:

Democratic Primary (MoE 4.5%)

Franken 42
Ciresi 18

General Election Matchups

Coleman (R) 40
Franken (D) 43.2

Coleman (R) 43
Ciresi (D) 38

Full results here.

My dad hates Norm Coleman. But, being a former attorney at his law firm, he loathes Mike Ciresi.

And as for me (I'm voting in the MN caucus)? Well, familial loyalty prevents me voting Ciresi (as do his pro-life attitudes). I wouldn't have a problem with Franken, except he was a complete and utter asshole to a friend of mine while at a Carleton rally earlier this year, for no good reason (this has turned many folks at Carleton -- who should be firmly in Franken's camp -- hardcore against him). Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is an option, except I like for my vote to count.

Tough call.