Fresh off the Election Court's ruling which means almost certain defeat for Norm Coleman, Coleman's campaign has offered Al Franken a radical and desperate compromise. In exchange for waiving all future appeals of the Election Court's ruling, Coleman has asked Franken to agree to share the Minnesota senate seat with him on an equal basis.
This unique job share proposal would work as follows:
Franken is Senator on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Coleman is Senator on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
If the Senate is to hold a session on Sunday, Coleman and Franken will flip a coin to see who gets to be Senator on that Sunday.
When reached for comment, Senator-elect Franken was skeptical about the proposal:
Frankly, I don't see how that can work. Would I have to resign the seat every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday so that Norm could be sworn in on those days? Would Senator Reid really want to begin each senate session with a daily swearing-in of me or Norm?
Constitutional Scholars were equally dubious:
Elections have always had winners and losers. The Constitution does not allow for an election having more than one winner, although it certainly does envision there being more than one loser, especially when there are more than two candidates running for the same office.
Senator Coleman's proposal seeks to do a complete end-run around this fundamental Constitutional principle.
Senator Harry Reid has not yet been reached for comment, but an anonymous source within his office said "it seems like typical sore loser surreal republican bullshit to me. But don't quote me on that."