The End.
By Jeff Fecke | July 1, 2009
For all the endless acrimony which defined the Coleman-Franken race, it ended today with abrupt grace. Just two hours after the Minnesota Supreme Court issued its ruling, Norm Coleman was stating flatly that the race was over, congratulating Al Franken on his victory, and calling on his supporters to do the same. An hour and change later, Al Franken was speaking humbly, talking about how gracious Coleman had been. In the end, both candidates were better than they ever were during the campaign. The Norm Coleman who showed up on a stunning election night in 1998 and saved his political career by promising in fulsome fashion to work with Gov.-elect Jesse Ventura made his first return appearance in over a decade. The Al Franken who earnestly worked small rooms, trying to convince people one-on-one that this was not a vanity trip, but that he really wanted to give something back, was on display as well. It was a fine way to end a Minnesota election.
With Norm Coleman’s very gracious concession, and Al Franken’s very gracious acceptance, June 30 marked the end of the 2008 election cycle. Al Franken is the Senator-elect, Norm Coleman is officially out of a job, Amy Klobuchar will be Minnesota’ senior senator until she leaves office, and the second-closest general election race in Minnesota history is finally, thankfully, in the books.
This leaves the obvious question: who came out of this long, grueling battle ahead, and who was hurt? Ultimately, who won, who lost, and who broke even?
Winners
Sen.-elect Al Franken, DFL-Minn.
By definition, Franken is a winner. After all, he won. But he also did well for himself during the recount process by avoiding grandstanding, and generally playing his cards close to his vest. When he made statements, they were relatively uncontroversial and obvious. When he was asked questions, he answered them directly and without discursion. But mostly, he simply waited, patiently, defying the “Angry Al” caricature that the Minnesota GOP tried to create. His statement today was of a piece with this focus, and a hopeful sign that Franken understands that he’ll be a one-term senator if he doesn’t show humility and respect to his constituents with a strong effort in the coming years.
Franken now must begin the difficult task of being a former celebrity who is a senator, rather than a celebrity senator. He will need to act like a junior senator, focus on constituent services and working behind the scenes with Democrats and Republicans alike to move things ahead. I’ve said before that whatever my misgivings about Al Franken the candidate, I thought Al Franken the person was running for the right reasons — I really do think he wants to serve his country and this state. He needs to keep his head down and do some hard lifting over the next five years to show that.
If the Al Franken who showed up today is the Al Franken we see over the next five-and-a-half years, I think he’ll be okay. If the partisan bomb-thrower of old returns, he may be in for a relatively short tenure — though one that’s at least 66 times longer than former Sen. Barkley’s.
Marc Elias
So if you’re a Democrat in a close race, is there anyone on the planet you’d rather have leading the charge for you? He’s now won cases for Franken and for Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington, both of whom arguably owe their positions to the legal work of Elias and company.
Elias didn’t win the case with legal razzle-dazzle. He won it because he and his team set up basic, consistent standards for ballot challenges, and then executed those challenges flawlessly. The Coleman campaign has said many times that this race was effectively a tie; they’re right. But we have no provision for a do-over. The best anyone can do is to look at the evidence clearly and make their best determination. While the Coleman camp was scattershot in their approach, the Franken camp was on target from day one to day 3,094. Or at least it seemed that long.
Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson
Magnuson and I have, I’m sure, widely divergent opinions on a lot of issues. But his conduct on the canvassing board and during the post-canvass period was exemplary. He was calm, reasoned, judicious, and seemed intent on being fair, exactly what one hopes for in a judge. And while I’m sure there was a temptation to head back to the court to preside over a case of the magnitude of Coleman v. Franken, I’m also sure that he and Justice G. Barry Anderson made the right decision by recusing themselves. Ultimately, the process worked in Minnesota because people in both parties were willing to commit to it. Magnuson is no exception, and he deserves commendation.
Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie
Mark Ritchie and I probably agree on almost everything, but I was still concerned when the process began that he would put his thumb down too hard on the side of Al Franken. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I want a Secretary of State who treats his or her job like the public trust it is, who works not for party interest, but for the interest of fair and just elections.
Ritchie, happily, did not style himself as a DFL answer to Mary Kiffmeyer. He appointed a canvassing board with partisan balance, pushed for consensus, rather than ramming through 3-2 decisions, and had his office work cautiously and deliberately. Moreover, he took pains to be as completely open as possible, debating ballots in public, with the images made public so everyone could see them, and pick them apart.
In short, Ritchie presided over the process as one hopes a Secretary of State would. I’m grateful for that — and I believe he is owed a great deal of respect.
Former Sen. Dean Barkley, I-Minn.
Former Sen. Barkley didn’t win the election, but his strong showing essentially validated his brief tenure in office, and it allows him to remain a voice in Minnesota politics. Barkley is a decent guy who has devoted himself to the quixotic aim of getting the Minnesota Independence Party back to its extremely brief period of glory at the turn of the century. I think it’s unlikely — and I say that as a former member — but I wish him well in his efforts.
The UpTake
The little website that could drank the collective milkshakes of the old media during the canvassing board hearings, covering darn near everything live over the internet. They got and earned national attention for their work. While any of the old-media companies could easily have hosted streaming video of the hearings, they didn’t. The UpTake did, and that level of hustle made them a national name. And deservedly so.
The System
The system worked. Oh, there will be sour grapes by some on the right over the wilder accusation of ACORN-led fraud conspiracies, but if Coleman’s attorney specifically ruling out fraud in this election couldn’t lay those rumors to rest, nothing will. For most people, we saw a system that was not perfect (for no system is), but one that put under severe stress still worked in a fair, open, and above-board manner. Coleman can complain that the rulings didn’t go his way, but he can’t complain that he didn’t get the opportunity to make his case, that justice was ever short-circuited in the interest of expediency, or that one party ran roughshod over the others. Democrats, Republicans, and Independence Party members alike demonstrated profound respect for the rule of law, the importance of fair and unbiased rulings, and a basic respect for their fellow Minnesotans’ intelligence.
Does that mean that there’s no possibility that errors in this election swung the race to Al Franken? Let’s be honest: of course it doesn’t. As I said, the system isn’t perfect, and some problems — specifically with absentee voting — will need to be addressed, and should be addressed.
But while there will always be some level of doubt about a race this tantalizingly close, it’s in the realm of, “Well, if the decision of the multipartisan Canvassing Board on this particular type of ballot was changed, then maybe….” It won’t be of the Bush-Gore “Why did they shut down counting for no apparent reason?” ilk. Coleman got multiple days in court, in front of multiple panels of judges, panels that were either multipartisan by design (the Canvassing Board, the special Contest Court) or by pure happenstance (the Supreme Court). Indeed, that last one boasts no Democratic appointees whatsoever, though Alan Page is almost certainly a DFLer.
Ultimately, the system produced a fair and just outcome, and one that is as good as can be under the circumstances. And I’d say the same thing if everything had been reversed. The wheels of justice may have ground slowly, but ultimately, they got the decision as right as possible. And Minnesotans have every reason to be proud of that.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Gov. Timmy played this one perfectly. He hinted to the base that he’d throw up roadblocks if he ever needed to, but he always couched it in language that suggested he’d just be following the law. He would have been in a pickle had Coleman decided to fight on, but Coleman didn’t. So Timmy got a total freebie — a pander to the base without the fallout from the pander.
Former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
Norm helped himself today with an extremely gracious concession speech, and good for him — it’s the right thing to do. But gracious concession speeches can’t undo some of the damage that’s been done to Norm by the post-election period. From his snap call for Franken to concede, to six months of fruitless appeals, Coleman ultimately did himself no favors, until today, when he finally threw in the towel.
What’s next for Norm will largely depend on how his ethical issues are resolved. If Norm avoids any kind of trouble, he could, potentially, be a viable gubernatorial candidate in 2010. Unfortunately for him, he’s not really beloved by the party rank-and-file , but he would undoubtedly be the best-known and best-funded candidate in the race. But I find it hard to believe that the GOP would turn to him given his less-than-stellar statewide record (lost to a pro wrestler, beat Mondale thanks to the perfect storm of the Rallemorial, lost to a comedian).
Truthfully, I think that may be okay with Norm. He’s coming back next week to talk about his political future; there’s no rush if he wants to run for Governor. But I expect Norm is going to take a few years off, lobby a bit, maybe get himself named of counsel to a law firm that wants his name on the letterhead, but doesn’t really need him to do much other than show up and act like a former senator. Frankly, Norm’s looked tired throughout the past few months. I don’t doubt that he’d like a chance to rest for a bit.
Does that mean Norm’s done? Did I say that? No, I did not. There are other races to come. He could return, Boschwitz-like, in 2014, for example. Or run against a DFL governor that same year. He could go back and challenge Chris Coleman to a Coleman-off for the title of God-Emperor of St. Paul. About the only race he won’t run is a challenge against the nigh-unbeatable Amy Klobuchar in 2012.
Norm’s got options. And I’m never going to count Norm out, not even if the ethical questions get more serious. But I think we may get through a cycle or two without him. And I think that’s okay with everyone, including Norm.
The Minnesota GOP
Coleman’s loss is yet another in a string of defeats for the Republican Party of Minnesota. If not for the talent of Tim Pawlenty and the stupidity of Mike Hatch, they’d be completely in the wilderness; as it is, they’ve now lost seven of the last eight statewide races, counting Presidential elections. They’re down below 1/3 of the Senate, and nearing 1/3 of the House. They had a little more luck in the U.S. House races last cycle, but that only means they held onto the three seats they alread had. They didn’t come close in any of the DFL-controlled districts, and frankly, nobody expects them to any time soon.
The GOP candidates for Governor don’t inspire much hope for the future. (Granted, neither do the announced DFL candidates, but still.) It’s entirely possible that two years from now, the GOP could be down to a small minority of the two legislative bodies, down to three U.S. Representatives, no senators, and no statewide elected officials.
Had the Republicans given Norm the freedom to be Norm — a guy who is fairly moderate, after all — he might have won this race. But of course, the GOP isn’t big on moderates, and Norm was constrained, as he has been since 1998, by the radical fringe that defines his party. Until the Republicans in this state recognize that difficult questions require thoughtful decisions rather than soundbites cribbed from the Cliff’s Notes version of Atlas Shrugged, the party is going to continue to waste away. Enjoy Gov. Timmy while you’ve got him; he’s a rare political talent, and he’s the only reason you’re even vaguely relevant right now. Without him, you’re in the hurt locker.
Mike Brodkorb
Hey, despite spearheading Blogs for Bush and pushing MDE as the all-Norm-all-the-time blog, Brodkorb’s guy lost. Of course, Mike was rewarded for this failure with a promotion to deputy chair of the party. Guys, as a Democrat, let me tell you, this is how people like Bob Shrum happen. I encourage you to keep promoting Mike Brodkorb until he’s running losing national campaigns. You can enjoy the same level of success as Democrats like Michael Dukakis and John Kerry.
Broke Even
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Yes, getting Al across the finish line is nice, but it was awfully darn close, and frankly, given that Minnesota is really a pure blue state these days, there’s no excuse for that. There’s still too much willingness in the DFL to accept the annointed candidate, without permitting too much of a challenge. Al Franken suffered from not having a credible challenger, at least through the convention. (Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer doesn’t count.) A better candidate would have dredged up some of the damaging stuff earlier, gotten it out in the open and out of the news sooner. They would have tested and pushed Franken, made him a better candidate, as Hillary Clinton pushed and improved Barack Obama.
Competition is good. And it’s important that the next time a candidate floats in on a pile of money and a cloud of entitlement, that the DFL remembers that those things don’t guarantee victory. It didn’t work for Mike Hatch, Skip Humphrey, or Roger Moe. It almost didn’t work for Al Franken. And it won’t work for a certain former House Minority Leader in 2010. (And no, I’m not talking about Margaret Anderson Kelliher.)
The DFL needs new voices. I said I thought Al Franken was running for honorable reasons, and that I think he can be an effective senator. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t better potential candidates who were dissuaded from running. There were. And it’s likely that a different candidate would have been sworn in six months ago.
The DFL is not a loser today; Al Franken won, after all. But they’d best not be too proud of themselves. This was way too close. And if the DFL doesn’t figure it out, they’re going to lose the governor’s mansion again in 2010.
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Topics: Al Franken, DFL, Dean Barkley, Election 2008, Election 2014, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, MDE, MN GOP, MN-SEN, Matt Entenza, Minnesota Politics, Norm Coleman, Tim Pawlenty | 4 Comments »
Breaking: Minn. Supremes Declare Franken Winner
By Jeff Fecke | June 30, 2009
Finally. I know that this could still keep going, you know, forever, but the smoke signals and tea leaves and bird guts all have pointed to Norm giving up. Given that this is a unanimous per curiam decision, it’s hard for Norm to show that he was beaten down by a shadowy liberal cabal. Frankly, his attorneys have done well to delay things this long, and I find it highly unlikely that Norm will continue on. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.
All I know is that my state’s junior senator is this guy:
Topics: Al Franken, Election 2008, MN-SEN, Norm Coleman | 2 Comments »
Tuesday Cat Blogging
By Jeff Fecke | June 30, 2009
It’s hard out there for a cat.
Fortunately for Tucker, he’s able to blend in with the 8.3 billion stuffed animals on my daughter’s bed when he takes a cat-nap. And even better, my daughter will tuck him in.
He laid like that for three hours or so. He’s not the most energetic of cats.
Topics: Potpourri | No Comments »
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
By Jeff Fecke | June 27, 2009
So Steven Waldman of Beliefnet and Lord William Saletan went on Bloggingheads to discuss abortion, and how we can make the dirty tramps who have them stop. It’s a natural topic of conversation for two people with zero ovaries, fallopian tubes, uteruses, and vaginas between them; since they’ll never have to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term, Waldman and Saletan are free to discuss things logically and scientifically, free from concerns like, say, how this would actually affect a human being.
Remarkably, in a discussion including Saletan, Waldman managed to make the dumbest and most offensive argument: what if we paid those wanton slatterns to keep the precious baby growing inside of them?
Now I wonder, I know this is dangerous territory here, but I’m just kind of thinking out loud…I wonder if we should start thinking about financial incentives or help for women who decide to carry the baby to term.”
[...]
So maybe we ought to be saying to them, if it’s officially important for us as a society to reduce the number of abortions…maybe we should pay her a thousand dollars, uh, I don’t know what the right number is, because you don’t want to create a financial incentive for, uh, making babies.
Genius! The woman gets ten honeybees, the patriarchal society gets its precious, precious baby, and everything is swell. It’s logically air-tight, except for the part of the stuff where he said all about…uh…things.
Before we take this apart on philosophical grounds, let’s first go over the basic argument: we’re going to give women money to continue with a pregnancy she would have aborted. Okay. Well, since we live in a country with de jure legal abortions, every pregnancy can be terminated. So we just agreed to pay every woman who gives birth $1000 cash money. In 2005, there were 4,138,349 live births in America. Presumably, this proposal would increase those numbers, and the numbers are just naturally going up anyway, so let’s say this gets us to a robust 5 million kids a year. At $1000 a kid, that’s a measly $5 billion a year in child bonuses! Pocket change. I mean, sure, it’s just $2 billion less than we give the EPA, but compared to the $660 billion we spent on defense, that’s nothing!
Then again, coming up with $5 billion a year will require higher taxes eventually, and if you hate abortion, you probably hate taxes even more. So somehow, we’re going to have to narrow this down a bit. Why not eliminate married women from the payout? I mean, every child born to a married couple is a loving gift from God, and therefore no married woman has ever had an abortion, so there we go! Now, some naysayers will say nay, that would encourage women and men to postpone marriage until after they had kids so that they can qualify for the child bonus, but that’s just crazy talk.
Maybe we could ask women if they were going to have an abortion, and if they say, “no,” we could simply not pay them. Brilliant! Nobody would lie for $1000. It’s foolproof!
Okay, now that we’ve reduced the cost to $4 billion or so, we run into our next problem: the .000002% of the recipients of the bonus who actually were swayed from aborting are now going into labor, and they just realized that the copay for giving birth is, like, much more than $1000. And that’s the ones who have insurance. They tell all their slutty friends who are cursed with God’s judgment, and now their friends all want to get abortions again! It’s crazy, I know, but given the expense of labor and delivery and having to pay for an actual child (assuming these children aren’t all given up for adoption, which they wouldn’t be), $1000 is absolutely nothing. (This shouldn’t be surprising; the going rate for surrogates is roughly $20,000 — which is probably lower than it should be, considering the health risks of pregnancy. Of course, that would have our plan costing around $100 billion a year, or about the size of the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Energy, Agriculture, and Justice combined.)
And not for nothing, but $1000 certainly not much of an incentive for women who are, one remembers, already paying easily that much to have abortions – which tends to suggest that the financial implications of childbirth are not the most pressing on women looking to abort anyhow.
So to recap the plan: we’re going to increase the out-of-wedlock birthrate, encourage women to lie, and pay too little to actually affect the abortion rate whatsoever. It’s a remarkable plan, I don’t know why anti-choicers haven’t thought of this before.
Now, obviously, this plan simply wouldn’t work, but frankly, that’s not the worst part of it. The worst part, of course, is that it’s essentially treating the woman as a rent-a-uterus, a thing that must be placated just long enough to extract the thing of value, the baby, from her. It’s dehumanizing, and it’s demeaning, and it ignores all the problems with actually being pregnant that most women, bless them, soldier through in order to have a child. It’s arduous, dangerous work, which is why people of decent character generally think that we should do what we can to make the work voluntary — to allow women to decide for themselves whether to take on the burden of carrying a pregnancy to term — and to allow them to opt out should they decide, even after they start, that they do not want to continue.
Of course, thinking that requires one to recognize that the work women do in carrying on our species’ existence is tremendously valuable and difficult, and something that they, as humans, should be lauded for. But when your view of pregnancy values the potential human within far more than the actual human without, it’s hard to recognize that. And easy to think that the husk which contains the precious child can be bought off with 15 cents per hour for nine months of ’round the clock work. The husk isn’t that important, you see. It’s just a woman.
Topics: Abortion | 2 Comments »
America Chooses Tyranny
By Jeff Fecke | June 27, 2009
Of course, by “Tyranny,” I mean we passed a fairly weak cap-and-trade carbon emission bill through the House of Representatives that will, hopefully, mitigate the damage from what could be the worst environmental catastrophe since the last ice age. But while those of us in the reality-based community think that the passage of Waxman-Markey is, you know, a prudent step in preventing the flooding of Florida and the end of Midwestern agriculture, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Sigh, knows better:
For the YouTube impaired, Bachmann states a number of completely made-up statistics showing that this measure would destroy the economy, and then declares, “But what is worse than this is the fact that now because of this underlying bill, the federal government will virtually have control over every aspect of lives for the American people. It is time to stand up and say: We get to choose. We choose liberty, or we choose tyranny — it’s one of the two.”
Because nothing says tyranny like weak, market-based restrictions on carbon emissions. It’s pretty much exactly the same as what’s going on in Iran, only worse.
Meanwhile, Glenn Beck decided to go after the bill by using a watermelon as a prop. Frankly, given Beck’s rather unique view of the world, this is barely worth mentioning.
Topics: Global Warming, Michele Bachmann | 1 Comment »
Nobody Could Have Predicted…
By Jeff Fecke | June 27, 2009
…that Milton Bradley would be a clubhouse cancer and a complete disaster for the Cubs. Bradley is simply too weird a guy to work with a team — any team. Add to that the fact that he’s producing at the level of a marginal backup at the plate, and at the level of a lobotomized squirrel in the field, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. It’s fortunate the Cubs are in the most mediocre division in baseball; there’s still a chance that Carlos Marmol remembers how to throw strikes, Aramis Ramirez comes back healthy and productive, and the Cubbies put together a run. And hey, if you’re a Cubs fan, that’s what you assume will happen. But still, the Bradley trade is looking like a disaster.
Meanwhile, my AL team, the Twins, seems like they’ve been playing really well lately, but they’re still just a game over .500. Fortunately, they’re in the second-most-mediocre division in baseball. Unfortunately, the Tigers actally look like they might be for real.
Topics: Sports | No Comments »
How Can We Miss You If You Won’t Go Away?
By Jeff Fecke | June 26, 2009
Ah, “Joe” the “Plumber,” we just can’t quit you, much as we might want to. I know you like to spend your time in quiet contemplation, but I understand you have some things to say?
“Obama right now is talking about, he can generate more revenue by taxing the top 2 to 3 percent of Americans,” Wurzelbacher said. “Well, you know, that’s immoral. Just because someone’s worked hard, gotten ahead — it’s not your money.”
Ah, yes, well, you see “Joe,” progressive taxation has been a part of American law since the dawn of the income tax. Even Ronald Reagan supported progressive taxation. Are you saying our country is immoral? Why do you hate America?
I kid, of course; your argument basically just proves you’re a libertarian douchebag who hasn’t thought too deeply about anything. It’s not like you called for the death of a politician.
Wurzelbacher has a reputation for being a blunt, politically incorrect speaker. Referring to Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., more than once, Wurzelbacher asked, “Why hasn’t he been strung up?”
Oh. Well, you know, you still have that keen grasp of policy that led John McCain to call you his personal hero, right?
And he glosses over facts. Referring to the Constitution as “almost like the Bible,” Wurzelbacher said of the Founding Fathers: “They knew socialism doesn’t work. They knew communism doesn’t work.”
Of course they did! Everyone knows that Ben Franklin invented the time machine, right after he invented the vibrator.* He and Thomas Jefferson time-traveled to the Soviet Union in 1984, and decided there and then that communism would not work. And thank goodness — had they traveled to Sweden in 2006, all of history might have been different.
Incidentally, “Joe” says he didn’t leave the GOP. Damn liberal media, reporting what he said as if he said it. But I say thank goodness. The Palin/The “Plumber” ticket is still alive for 2012. And that would be hilarious.
*This is why Franklin was so popular with the ladies.
Topics: General Wingnuttery, National GOP | 5 Comments »
Michael Jackson, 1958-2009
By Jeff Fecke | June 25, 2009
I don’t even know where to begin with the news that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is dead at the age of 50. Jackson’s post- adolescent life was about as dysfunctional as any life could be; his great wealth and talent never could buy him the childhood that was stolen from him. I don’t know if any of the more unseemly allegations against him were true, but in the end, it almost doesn’t matter. Jackson was arguably never an adult in the emotional sense.
I hope he finds comfort in his eternal rest, and I hope his children can find some semblance of normalcy. Most of all, I hope the next parent of a talented child looks at Jackson’s life and death, and that it gives them pause. But we know that won’t happen.
Topics: In Memoriam | No Comments »
Thursday Tim and Eric
By Jeff Fecke | June 25, 2009
Topics: Potpourri | No Comments »
Fake Out in Buenos Aires
By Jeff Fecke | June 24, 2009
Wow. So, just for future reference, if you’re a politician with national electoral aspirations who is cheating on your spouse with an Argentine national, here’s how you don’t want to handle things:
- Drive your state-issued vehicle to an out-of-state airport without telling anyone.
- Fly to Buenos Aires, turning off your cell phone so nobody can get in touch with you.
- Force your staffers to blatantly make up possible places you could be, like, say, hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
- Force your spouse — who you’re still married to, despite the affair that you’ve admitted to — to lie in order to cover for you. (Bonus points if your spouse, being angry over the whole cheating-on-you thing, gives transparently and intentionally weak and contradictory excuses, like saying you’re writing a novel while your staffers are saying you’re hiking.)
- When you finally do get in touch with someone, don’t give them any information that will help them spin this.
I won’t cry for Mark Sanford. He’s a major-league douchebag who had to be sued to keep from throwing thousands of families off of unemployment. That he has no personal family values is of a piece with his not valuing the families in his state. His political career is effectively over now; I can’t imagine any scenario in which a guy who would flame out this spectacularly comes back from this. If he’s lucky, he manages to hold on to office without being thrown out — not because he had an affair, which should not be a firing offense, but because the events surrounding it are so bizarre and memorable.
Who does this benefit? Well, it helps the inexplicable candidacy of Haley Barbour for the presidency, clearing out a southerner who was in his way. It helps Tim Pawlenty, who was going to have to jockey with Sanford to get out of the second-tier of potential GOP candidates. It helps Jenny Sanford win her divorce case. And it helps the people of South Carolina, whose douchebag of a governor is no longer politically viable on the national stage. Without the presidency to shoot for, maybe Sanford will stop playing politics with the lives of the people of his state, and start worrying about doing the right thing.