MN-Sen: Tightwad

Norm Coleman is a fiscal conservative. I mean in his personal life. He doesn't seem to like to pay for anything:

In what is becoming a clear pattern, reports show that his political contributors have paid for an array of Coleman's basic expenses, including his rent, his utility bills, his trips to the Bahamas, and -- in the latest revelation -- even his clothes.

From Harper's:

I've been told by two sources that [local businessman and political contributor Nasser] Kazeminy has in the past covered the bills for Coleman's lavish clothing purchases at Nieman Marcus in Minneapolis. The sources were not certain of the dates of the purchases; if they were made before Coleman joined the Senate in 2003, he obviously would not be required to report it under senate rules. But having a private businessman pay for your clothing is never a good idea if you're a public official (Coleman was mayor of St. Paul from 1994 to 2002).

Coleman was asked about this today and blamed it on those mean ol' bloggers.

"First of all, every gift I've ever received has been reported, ok. But the idea of responding to the things bloggers throw out is something I'm not going to get into. There are very awful things that are said about people on the blogs," he said.

But it's not really that you've reported the gifts, per se, it's that you keep getting them, over and over, for every little expense in your life. Oh, and you didn't answer the question.

Al Franken is going to be a good US Senator.