The Frankenphiles have left the building

Rich Terrell

Franken’s Phony Finale: He casts his resignation as an act of gallantry, not an act of atonement.  . . . "The speech followed the usual pattern of lying pols: I didn’t do it, I’m only quitting because I am a distraction and can’t advance my party’s agenda “effectively anymore, and the other side is worse. Franklin bitterly remarked upon the “irony” of his resignation, presenting himself as an innocent man on the pyre while guilty men like Trump and Roy Moore walk free." . . .

In Franken's fall, sudden Senate pickup chance for GOP   . . . "Franken's exit gives Republicans an opening to expand their reach in an already favorable Senate map — two dozen Democratic senators are up for re-election next year, including 10 in states that President Donald Trump carried in 2016. That difficult math raises the question of whether Dayton will appoint a temporary placeholder or try to give a Democrat a running start for the 2018 campaign." . . .