Dangling Senate Seats

The new Congress begins its business tomorrow, but there won't be a full house in the Senate. There are still a few vacancies to fill.

• In Minnesota, the state Canvassing Board certified comedian Al Franken as the winner of the hotly contested Senate race against incumbent Norm Coleman.
  
  But Coleman's attorneys pledged to challenge the certification in court.
  
  "Minnesota law prohibits the state from issuing a certificate of election until such a court case is resolved," report Pat Doyle and Patricia Lopez of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "which ... leaves Minnesota with a single senator."
  
  Even so, writes Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post, the window is closing on Coleman.
  
  Several actors have been candidates for office in California, and some of them have gone on to win — including, notably, a future president.
  
  But Minnesota, which elected a wrestler as its governor a decade ago and currently has a former football player serving as its chief justice, may be the champion (per capita) at electing the most nontraditional candidates to high-profile positions.
  
  Franken's margin of victory was 225 votes.


• Roland Burris, who has been chosen by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to replace Barack Obama, continues to run into problems. The governor's acting chief of staff took Burris' nomination certificate to the Senate today, but it was rejected by the secretary of the Senate.
  
  Such a certificate is supposed to be signed by Illinois' governor and its secretary of state. But the Illinois secretary of state refused to sign it, apparently because he is among the growing number of Illinois politicians who contend that Blagojevich is unfit to serve.
  
  It appears that Burris and the governor must hope that the Illinois Supreme Court will force the secretary of state to sign the document.
  
  I've advocated giving Burris an opportunity to show what he can do, but things seem to be getting out of hand.
  
  "I feel I am the solution to the problem for the people of Illinois," Burris says.
  
  According to CBS News, "[T]he Lord put his hands on the governor and said, 'This is the person that has to go to Washington,' and that appointment is legal," Burris said to supporters at a Chicago church yesterday. "That is all there is."
  
  Dear Diary ...


• In New York, where Gov. David Paterson must nominate the successor for Hillary Clinton, Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy seems to be criticized by everyone for her unfortunate, repeated use of the phrase "you know," which doesn't seem to strike many observers as dignified enough — or eloquent enough — for a Kennedy.
  
  The latest to contribute his two cents' worth is Ben McGrath of the New Yorker. He offers something of a defense for Kennedy and some suggestions for turning the situation to her advantage.
  
  You know?