Norm Coleman's "recount" is blocking the Stimulus bill.....

I can't prove this as fact as I'm proving too lazy and too ineffective to find any supporting articles on donors, but every dollar spent to continue Norm Coleman's extremely unlikely lawsuits (extending the Minnesota recount) are now simply dollars spent to delay Al Franken from becoming the 59th Dem Senator.

I think that's the politics now, not to win the Coleman recount, but to temporarily deny Franken the ability to vote in the Senate.

And that 59th vote matters. It gets you so much closer.

"In the Senate, it routinely takes 60 votes to do almost everything. It doesn't necessarily mean you're trying to slow a bill down," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday on CBS program "Face the Nation."

"But a super-majority is required for virtually everything in the Senate, and certainly for something that is close to a one trillion dollar spending bill, it will," he said.

To overcome a Republican "filibuster," the Democrats would need to amass 60 votes to shut down debate and bring the bill to a vote. Obama's party can now count on 58 votes to the Republicans' 41, with one seat still unresolved.

To me, this level of politics would be big news, especially if the Stimulus bill goes down to a filibuster.

So, who is paying to keep that 59th Dem Senator from casting a vote for the Stimulus bill?

Also, factor in that Norm Coleman was one of the two main contenders for the head of the NSRC (Senate Republicans pot of money,) only stepping aside to Cornyn 9 days after the election "to focus on his recount."

What was the deal between them? How much is the NSRC into funding the recount?

(As for the 60th vote, Judd Gregg is telling colleagues that he wouldn't take Commerce if it meant a Dem Senator, but Gregg does look set to take Commerce.

So, more than likely, a deal has been struck for some flavor of "moderate" Republican to replace him.)