FORA.tv Speaker - Norm Coleman

Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002. Previously a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Coleman became a Republican in 1996.

Coleman's 2008 US Senate re-election bid, in which he was challenged by Democrat Al Franken and former senator Dean Barkley, was long unresolved. His term ended on January 3, 2009, and after a six-month legal battle in which he lost each of his contests, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously declared Franken the election winner by 312 votes (out of over 3 million cast) on June 30, 2009, prompting Coleman to concede.

As of 2011, Coleman works as an adviser and board director with the Republican Jewish Coalition.