Filibusters

A mere eight months after the November elections, and the Senate is full.

Democratic challenger Al Franken has been declared the winner in the Minnesota Senate race, defeating Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled him the winner Wednesday after a protracted recount battle.

The margin of victory was razor-thin, with a mere 312 votes separating Coleman and Franken, out of nearly 2.9 million votes cast. It's hard to blame Coleman for challenging the outcome of the election. However, the results should have been decided in a speedier manner - eight months is a long time to wait for the outcome of an election.

Franken has said he will work hard to represent all the people of Minnesota. As he should - he received only 43 percent of the vote. There was a third-party candidate, and Franken would be wise to remember that 57 percent of voters wanted someone else in the Senate.

Much has been made of the Democrats' new filibuster-proof majority. People are up in arms about the power the party now has and how it can be abused. But there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

First of all, there is no guarantee that all Democrats will agree on everything. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter may be a Democrat now, but there are no guarantees he will vote with them all the time. Nor will Joe Lieberman, or Jim Webb, or Bernard Saunders, or Evan Bayh, or any number of other fairly moderate Democrats.

Secondly, the filibuster is in the Senate rules. There is no reason for either party to not use it. Democrats would use it against Republicans, and the Republicans have every right to try and use it against the Democrats. This isn't something modern-day Repubs. or Dems. came up with just to get under the skin of the opposition - it was written into the rules of order years ago; the modern filibuster practices go back to around 1917, though it has been around in some form since the 1780s.

And the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster? Also in the rules. (Though 67 votes were needed until that rule was changed in 1975.) To argue that one party or the other is abusing power is absurd - they are only using the power that has already been established.

Al Franken brings no guarantees to the U.S. Senate. But he does bring the much-needed 100th vote to the chamber. A chamber that needs to get busy taking care of business.