"The theft of Norman Coleman's Senate seat was remarkably brazen for the way it was done in broad daylight. The techniques of such thievery are peculiar to the various states. Mary Landrieu stole her seat in Louisiana, but authentic fraud shock is rare in Louisiana, and Huey Long didn't bother to roll to either right or left in his grave. Lyndon Johnson got to the Senate on the strength of a single ballot box in remote Jim Wells County, where he kept going back for more votes until he had the 87 ballots he needed to steal the election from Gov. Coke Stevenson.
But Minnesota imagines itself to be more high minded than Louisiana or Texas, even if the rest of us don't. One member of the Minnesota canvassing board, a state Supreme Court justice, conceded that some ballots were probably counted twice, but he said there was not much anybody could do about it. In more than 25 precincts, officials counted more ballots than actual voters; this was put down to well-meant enthusiasm. If everyone has a duty to vote, who could scold a voter for going above and beyond the call of duty?
Al Franken's vote is not likely to be the margin of victory for any of the schemes now being dreamed up by the Democrats, but the way he got to Washington, and the easy acceptance of fraud, will be remembered as typical of the times, an era when avarice reigned, and the clever swindle was a joke to be played by a clown."
• Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times.
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