Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman — no stranger to challenged elections — had some advice for Alaska Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller: "It should be time to move on."
In an interview excerpt from C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" that will air Sunday, Coleman said Miller didn't have anything to gain by challenging the Alaska Senate results, where he trails Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is on the cusp of winning a write-in campaign.
"I understand his concern, but I'll just be very straightforward here, I think that race is over," Coleman said. "I think the counting been done. I'm not sure there's anything that would change that. I made a decision in my race with (Sen. Al) Franken at a certain point and time and said, 'Ok, let's not go any further.'"
In the interview excerpt released by C-SPAN, Coleman did not mention his own state's recount, where Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer trails DFLer Mark Dayton by about 8,700 votes. A recount is slated to begin Monday.
Coleman, of course, lost a razor-tight election to Franken in 2008, where he led on election night but ultimately lost to Franken by 312 votes. Franken was not sworn in until July after a prolonged legal battle following the recount.
Coleman has yet to publicly comment on the Minnesota governor's recount. A call to his Washington office was not immediately returned.
Watch the interview below:
