The Hill reports that there might just be something to a meme that’s been floating around about the Minnesota Senate race: That the Republican Party quite likes the situation of Norm Coleman’s lawsuit keeping the Democrats one vote short of what they would otherwise have.
GOP aides told the paper that there is not a specific desire to wage the lawsuit as a stalling maneuver on Franken’s seating. But one anonymous leadership aide did say that “It’s better for us to have one less member.” The same person also admitted this about Franken: “He’s got a very good shot at winning.”
And Ron Bonjean, a former Senate Republican aide who now runs a public-relations firm, had this to say: “If Franken was going to vote on the stimulus package, they wouldn’t necessarily need one of the Republicans. So yeah, it matters.”
Even if the lawsuit isn’t specifically being done as a stall tactic, the delaying effect does appear to be a nice fringe benefit.
