It was back in late April that we said "oh, come on" to the news that Norm Coleman wanted to begin oral arguments in his state supreme court election appeal "no sooner than mid-May." Mid-May! Hah! Now it is June. And the first day of oral arguments!

Norm Coleman lost his reelection to the US Senate to cocaine-addled New York comedian Al Franken, the famous star of LateLine. It was a very close race, and after the legally-mandated recount, Franken led Coleman by only 312 votes. So Norm took him to court! And lost! So he appealed! And he will lose, again! And in the meantime, Minnesota has only one lonely Senator, and the Democrats are missing their magical 60th vote that will solve all our problems. So the RNC is paying Norm to prolong the inevitable as long as possible, even as it destroys his own political career (a majority of Minnesotans currently wish Norm would just go away).

Should the Minnesota Supreme Court rule against Norm (which will probably happen some time around Independence Day), he could still appeal to the US Supreme Court! If he does this, Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty will have to sacrifice either his Gubernatorial reelection by not signing Franken's election certificate or wreck his future in the national GOP by giving the seat to the Democrat.

Here is a fun fact about the Minnesota State Supreme Court: one of the justices is former Vikings DT and NFL hall-of-famer Alan Page! Page's 148.5 career sacks reassure us that the court will decide fairly. We just wish they'd hurry up about it.