Coleman has a history of trying to have it both ways, and clearly he's at it again in the filibuster debate. But this is not an issue with gray areas. The call for a vote on the "nuclear option" as advocated by Republican leadership is really just a transparent power grab that will reduce the U.S. Senate to a rubber stamp for any and all of President Bush's ultraconservative judicial nominees. Factor in Bush's desire to please social conservatives by appointing far-right judges who would undo Roe vs. Wade, and it doesn't take a genius to see where this is heading.

Coleman's slippery history on the abortion issue is actually a carefully constructed attempt to appear moderate on an issue upon which Minnesotans couldn't be clearer. The last statewide poll on abortion taken by the Star Tribune found that 57 percent of Minnesotans support the rights to privacy guaranteed in Roe vs. Wade. By political necessity, Coleman needs to change the terms of this debate, masking the real stakes in order to conceal his true position from the majority who disagree with him.