Difference between revisions of "Norm Coleman"

Revision as of 18:12, February 2, 2009

Norman "Norm" Coleman, Jr. (born August 17, 1949) is the Senior United States Senator from Minnesota and a member of the Republican Party. He is currently the Senate Minority Deputy Whip, making him the third highest ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate.

Early Life

Coleman was born and raised in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He is married to actress and model Laurie Coleman. Coleman is a graduate of James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York and Hofstra University on Long Island.

Political career

Coleman's politics have changed dramatically throughout his political career. In college, he was a liberal Democrat and protested against the Vietnam War. He ran for student senate and once wrote in his school newspaper "these conservative kids don't f#ck or get high like we do." In 1993 he was elected mayor of Saint Paul as a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). In 1996, Mayor Coleman made a major change. Saying that he was frustrated that the Democratic party he had been a part of from his youth had assumed the role of defenders of the status quo, he switched to the Republican party because he felt it held the best opportunity to bring about job growth, quality education and greater public safety. In 1997, he was reelected mayor as a Republican, with 59 percent of the vote. In 1998 he ran for Governor of Minnesota and lost to former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura. In 2002 Coleman was elected to the United States Senate, defeating former Vice President Walter Mondale.

United States Senate

Coleman is a member of four Senate committees including the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. In 2004 he ran for chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (N.R.S.C.) but was defeated by North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole by one vote. Senator Coleman calls himself pro-life but has voted in support of embryonic stem cell research. He opposes gay marriages and civil unions. Coleman opposed President George W. Bush's troop increase in Iraq in January of 2007.

2008 Senate re-election results

Senator Coleman ran ran for reelection in 2008. His opponents were former U.S. Senator Dean Barkley of the Independence Party, and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party candidate Al Franken.

After a recount, Senator Norm Coleman lost the election to Al Franken by 225 votes. Dean Barkley garnered 437,505 votes, while Senator Coleman garnered 1,212,206 votes, and Al Franken garnered 1,212,431 votes.^[1] Norm Coleman's campaign has filed a law suit to prevent Franken from taking office.

Minnesota state law requires an automatic recount if the the margin of victory is less than 0.5%.^[2]

References

External Links

• Official Site
• Coleman On the Issues
• Blogs for Norm Coleman