Who else but Norm Coleman?

Lawyers for Sen. Norm Coleman said Wednesday it is a “virtual certainty” that Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race will be decided by a lawsuit, after the state Supreme Court ruled against Coleman’s request to make counties verify that some votes weren’t counted twice.

Coleman’s lawyers argued Tuesday that 130-150 votes were “double counted” during the statewide manual recount, and they said counties should be asked to re-examine their numbers to find discrepancies.

The court rejected the request in a unanimous decision. […]

“We’re certainly not announcing that we’re filing (an election) contest today,” he said to reporters during a conference call. “But there’s no question, I mean no question, in our mind that that will occur now.”

By the way, two Republican Supreme Court justices sit on the Minnesota Canvassing Board which is considering the challenges. The majority of the members of the Minnesota Supreme Court have been appointed by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. And the Coleman campaign has come forward with no evidence that any duplicate ballots favoring Franken were double counted in violation of state law. No wonder a unanimous Suprteme Court said “No TRO for you Norm.” To get a restraining order like the one Coleman was seeking, he had to present evidence that shows he was likely to win the underlying lawsuit on the merits. That means he had to have evidence that double counting of ballots did in fact occur. His legal team has no such evidence, only suspicions they pulled out of their nether regions. Coleman’s entire case is based on a wish and a prayer, not on any substantive issues of fact.

But no matter. When behind release the hounds lawyers! Coleman is no Al Gore, nor even the former Minnesota Republican Governor Elmer Anderson who in 1962 declined to pursue further litigation after he lost a recount contest with his Democratic opponent.

Coming from a Senator whose other legal problems increasingly overshadow his desperate attempt to hold onto his Senate seat, one has to wonder why he is so anxious to serve in the minority during an Obama administration? What’s the benefit to him if it’s likely all his time will be spent fending off federal prosecutors and the FBI on corruption charges. There must be something he’s been promised by state or national Republican officials, or some tangible gain he believes will accrue to him so long as he retains his Senate seat. What that may be, however, we can only speculate about.

If it were me, I’d be saving my money to pay the lawyers needed to fight the coming federal indictment he seems doomed to be confronted with in the near future, not waste it on lawyers fees for an election contest he appears more and more likely to lose each passing day. But then, I’m not a Republican politician.