[Editor's Note:These excerpts were released by Sirius XM Radio on February 26, 2009.]

Sen. Coleman discusses possibility of re-running election on 'The Wilkow Majority'

SIRIUS XM Radio's Andrew Wilkow welcomed former Senator Norm Coleman to his show The Wilkow Majority to discuss his ongoing recount battle with Al Franken for the Minnesota Senate seat. Senator Norm Coleman shared his thoughts on the legal wrangling to get Republican absentee votes counted and the possibility of re-running the election.

The Wilkow Majority hosted by Andrew Wilkow brings a fresh, new perspective to conservative issues. The show airs daily from 12-3 pm ET on SIRIUS Patriot channel 144 and XM's America Right channel 166.

Below are excerpts from The Wilkow Majority:

Senator Norm Coleman on the disparity between Republican and Democratic areas in counting absentee votes and re-running the election:

ANDREW WILKOW: ... you're talking about what seems, I guess, common sense, that if the law says the witness signature [on an absentee ballot] has to be that of a registered voter and some of yours were rejected for, whether you like it or not, for not having the witness be a registered voter and [at the same time] you have thousands of other ballots not being held to that standard, how can this be possible and/or legal?

SEN. NORM COLEMAN: Well, you raise a good question because ultimately when all this is said and done, this court has to make a certification that the person who got elected, got elected by the most legally cast votes. What we're seeing now when we go back, in many areas and certainly we're looking at the democrat dominated areas where you're seeing in St Louis probably thousands of votes that were counted not legally cast. What does the court do? Yeah, you know some folks are now talking about simply saying run it again, just run it again.

ANDREW WILKOW: Have another state wide election?

SEN. NORM COLEMAN: You know the St Paul Pioneer Press is...one of the second largest papers in the state, last week [they] said we're never going to figure this out, just run it again. So you start hearing that. Ultimately the court has to make a determination, can they confirm, can they certify who got the most legally cast votes. I truly believe when all is said and done, we have the most legally cast votes. We had it election night, we had it when the recount began, we should have it when we go through this process, if the votes, you know [are counted with] equal application of the law.

But this certainly highlights our concerns in the process. I got to believe next time this happens folks are going to say...if you have something within a couple of say percentage - this is by the way was thousandths of a percent - but if you have something within a couple of hundred votes out of three million cast, probably the best thing to do next time is run it again in three weeks and put all this other stuff aside.

Senator Norm Coleman on the stimulus plan and bipartisanship:

ANDREW WILKOW: I've been saying that there are a lot of people that voted for Barack Obama this time around, not knowing that their first major act would be a 787 billion dollar stimulus package... You think if the election were held today, right now... given what people now know about democrat dominance in the house and in the senate what Obama has been doing as of today, that if the election were recast today you'd wipe Al Franken off the map?

SEN. NORM COLEMAN: First let me say this, I'm one of those who would have tried to work in a bipartisan way. I mean I think the partisan divide is crushing this country. As Americans we're facing the toughest economic times of our lives, the world is still a very dangerous place. If we can find common ground, count me in, I'm for it. I think it's a shame that this major piece of legislation was passed really in total violation of that. Some of my colleagues tried to make the effort but in the end this was a bill that wasn't just about stimulus this was about reshaping the nature of government, reshaping America.

About the spending, much of it isn't going to make a dimes worth of difference in terms of stimulus. It' s going to be spending after the fact, it's going to be spending on things that don't grow jobs. So listen, I'm all for doing all we can to get us out of this mess as quick as possible, I'm for infrastructure spending. I have no problem with that, but spending simply using the pain that Americans are facing to pass a bill that's going to incur great debt for our kids and isn't going to do all the right things that need to be done. I think it's a shame that we missed the opportunity to work in a bipartisan way. I think it sets a bad precedent and if you can't get it done when all of America is looking for a solution, then how are you going to get it done on some of the tough things that really separate us.

So [I'm] very disappointed and I think as folks in the next election if we get to run this again - again I'm confident I got more votes the last shot - but I think there will be a lot of things that will be different from where we were in November. And so, again... others are going to have to make that choice and I'm not saying it's going to happen in my race, I do think in the future we'll probably get away from these legal actions and they'll probably be a path for a quicker resolution.

But if you are asking me have some of the attitudes changed since the last election I think they have, certainly among republicans. My folks have, many of the folks I talked to were hopeful that we'd see a bipartisan response and they haven't seen that so again, I'm going through this court process, I expect to come out on top with fair application of the law but I do think as we look to the future we gotta figure out a better way to solve these things other than simply by paying the lawyer. Let the people have a say in it and get it done very quickly. It's probably a better resolution.