By Samuel Rubenfeld
The University’s representative to the U.S. Senate may no longer have a seat there next year.
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), class of 1971, won the Senate seat in 2002 after defeating 1984 Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, who was put on the ticket after then-incumbent Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash about a week before Election Day.
His re-election bid has been close. Facing comedian Al Franken and independent candidate Dean Barkley, the campaign was bitterly negative. The results after Election Day had Coleman up by a razor-thin margin over Franken, so small it required a recount that won’t be finished until mid-December. Heading into the recount, Coleman leads by about 200 votes, but there are thousands of “under-votes” that remain to be counted before a recount can even begin.
Coleman’s campaign declined repeated requests for comment about the campaign, the recount or about his days as a student at the University.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Coleman was a student radical while he attended the University, and flaunted his liberalism while running for president of the Student Government Association. “I know these conservative kids don’t f— or get high like we do (purity, you know),” he wrote in an op-ed for The Chronicle during the run-up to SGA elections that year. “Already the cries of motherhood, apple pie, and Jim Buckley reverberate through the halls of the Student Center. Everyone watch out, the 1950s bobby-sox generation is about to take over.”
During his tenure, he led protests against the faculty; he wanted the school shut down amid the Kent State shootings, announcing his intentions from atop the University Club. Despite the rabblerousing, he was “quite a good student,” said Herbert Rosenbaum, professor emeritus of political sceince, who taught Coleman. “I must confess we were at loggerheads at the time because I was defending the faculty when he wanted to shut down the school.”
After graduating from the University, Coleman went to the University of Iowa for Law School. Following a job opportunity in the Minnesota state Attorney General’s office, he spent 17 years there as a prosecutor before running for mayor of St. Paul as a Democrat albeit without the key Democrat-Farmer-Labor state party endorsement, and he won. In 1996, he was re-elected as mayor, and summarily switched parties to become a Republican.
Immediately the speculation of a run for governor began. In 1998, he ran in the gubernatorial election, only to lose to Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a pro wrestler. Four years later, he was considering running for governor again but Karl Rove convinced Coleman to run for Senate. After one term as Senator, Coleman is struggling to keep his spot there.
“The lead is getting smaller as the recounts come in,” Rosenbaum said. “I’m not sure what the outcome is of course, but it is at least possible that Franken may still win it.”
(From The Chronicle Archives)