Shut Up, Please

The Democratic National Committee is running a radio ad in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market as part of a campaign to “step up the pressure” on Republicans to abandon their legal challenges to Al Franken’s apparent hairline victory over Norm Coleman in the endless Minnesota Senate race. The spot, Politico reports,

accuses the incumbent senator and national Republicans of wanting “to thwart the will of the voters” and delay the outcome. . . .”Enough is enough,” says the announcer, noting that Franken won the original election, the recount and a legal challenge. “America is in an economic crisis—and Minnesota faces unique challenges of its own. Minnesota deserves two Senators and voters deserve to have their verdict stand without delay.”

I really question the wisdom of this. It smells too much like the hurry-up Bush pulled in 2000 in Florida. Remember “Sore Loserman”? Taunts are unattractive. If I were a Minnesota Republican, I’d think that the country as a whole would be better off with one fewer Democrat in the Senate, however temporarily—even if that meant one fewer senator plumping for cheese subsidies and other parochial Minnesota concerns. I mean, if the shoe were on the other foot and Coleman were “leading” by a couple of hundred votes (out of 2.9 million), I’d certainly want Franken to exhaust his legal remedies before throwing in the towel. The DNC does itself no favors by casting itself as anxious to cut short a process that seems to have been eminently fair so far and that appears destined to end in victory. Why not just stand back graciously and let the Republicans try the patience of Minnesotans all by themselves? Anyway, the last reason Republicans would give in is because Democrats are wasting money on commercials telling them to.