Norm Coleman joins lobbying firm

Former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman has joined the Washington law firm Hogan Lovells as a senior government advisor.

That means he's likely to be involved with lobbying, and even if he doesn't formally register as a lobbyist, Coleman will certainly be advising the firm's lobbyists.

Coleman narrowly lost his Senate seat to DFL Sen. Al Franken after a lengthy recount in 2009. He also served as mayor of St. Paul.

More recently, Coleman's been the chairman and CEO of the American Action Network, one of the outside groups that pumped over $26 million worth of ads into last year's midterm elections.

According to an AAN spokesman, Coleman will step down from his role as CEO but will remain the group's chairman.

Hogan Lovells' clients include Nissan, Daimler, General Electric and Xcel Energy. Interestingly, the firm's political action committee leaned heavily Democratic in the last election, giving $121,000 to Democratic candidates and $78,000 to Republicans, according to Opensecrets.org.

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