No equal protection in Election

Al Franken was declared the winner in the Minn. Senate race. The loser, Norm Coleman is contesting the results in part on equal protection grounds. This is a bad lawsuit, and would be a horrible precedent. Bush v. Gore got this ball rolling in 2000. Now, the Republicans are looking to use the legal system to help them politically again. Even if they don't win, the GOP can at least delay the seating of the 59th Democrat. In a Senate where the rules often demand 60 votes to end debate and move on to legislating, every vote matters.

As long as there is a good-faith effort to run a fair election, and there aren't any obvious signs of fraud, we should leave the election system alone. We need to instill confidence in the system. It is especially important that the losers accept the verdict of the voters. In close elections there will always be items that can be legitimately pursued but at what cost?

Democrats have the credibility to make these assertions as many of us feel Al Gore should have fought longer and harder in 2000.

In a Democratic Republic, it would be a dangerous attack on the system to use every means of scrutinizing and contesting close elections.

Norm Coleman should go with his initial inclination of telling Franken to concede early on.
It was the right advice (albeit prematurely).

It is easy to talk about having good character and traditional values.
Now is the time for Coleman to show it.