Removing one of the last remaining links between the two combatants in Minnesota's 2008 Senate recount, Sen. Al Franken is moving out of the Washington office once inhabited by former Sen. Norm Coleman.
During the recount battle that stretched halfway into 2009, the office on the third floor of the Hart Senate Office Building sat empty as the election fight wound its way through the courts. By July 2009, when Franken was sworn-in, all the other Senate offices were long taken.
Now Franken is moving down the hall to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's old digs. Spokesman Ed Shelleby says the new office has more space for staffers and more room outside to hold his weekly constituent breakfast meetings, which can attract a crowd of more than 100.
Franken's moving day is Friday.
At least one item in the new office will still connect Franken and Coleman: Shelleby said Franken will keep the same wooden desk that was used by both Coleman and Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone.
