Senate Democrats Say End Is Near for Coleman

[kpete]

Source: Congressional Quarterly

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
Feb. 26, 2009 – 2:53 p.m.
Senate Democrats Say End Is Near for Coleman
By Kathleen Hunter, CQ Staff

Senate Democratic leaders said Thursday that they see a light at the end of the tunnel in the protracted Minnesota Senate race and expressed confidence that Democrat Al Franken would fill the vacant seat in a matter of weeks.

“The projections — and they’re not locked in — are that this should all be finished by the very beginning of April,” said New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer , who headed the Senate Democrats’ campaign efforts during the 2008 cycle.

A three-judge panel in Minnesota is currently refereeing Republican Norm Coleman’s attempt to have enough ballots counted in his favor to erase a 225-vote margin of victory that a state canvassing board awarded to Franken in January. But Coleman has suffered a series of setbacks in the trial.

“We’re very confident,” Schumer said. “We keep gaining.”

Read more: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003062248

[tekisui]

1. At this rate, Franken will have to start his re-election campaign before he is

seated. Hope that light is for real.

[bdamomma]

2. coleman get out of way for Senator Franken.

[jtrockville]

3. So in the USA, the winner of an election can be known in only 4-5 MONTHS?

Amazing.

[unblock]

9. well, the supremos stop recounts abrubtly when republicans are winning.

it only takes a long time when the democrat wins.

[pacalo]

4. Wasting taxpayer money on ill-begotten fiascos & trying to manipulate elections

is in Coleman's blood as a politician. He'll continue on his obstruction path until the grownups have had enough.

[bluestateguy]

5. I don't ever want to hear a conservative bitch about Al Gore in 2000 again

Gore conceded on December 13.

[shraby]

6. Coleman should be sued by Franken for lost wages.

[byeya]

7. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think the US Senate

is the judge of who sits in the Senate, according to the Constitution. If that is correct, the Democrats could/should have sworn in Franken weeks ago and not allowed Minnesota to be without one of its senators for this long.

[lark]

11. Didn't the Repugs say they'd filibuster

and would not let Franken be seated? If they can't do that, then why in the world isn't the Senate seating Franken?

:shrug:

[struggle4progress]

13. Art I Sec 5: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections ... of its own Members"

but of course this must be subject to some interpretation by the Courts; it seems obvious that it does not have an unlimited meaning -- for example, a House of Congress cannot simply declare the clear and obvious loser of an election to be the winner

We should prefer not to see Congress exercise this prerogative too lightly: a lot of us were PO'd in 2006 when the House swore in Bilbray (R) for CA-50 before the election was certified


On June 6, 2006 Republican Brian Bilbray allegedly slightly outpolled Democrat Francine Busby in the special election for California’s 50th Congressional District, despite Busby’s lead in the polls going into the election ... On June 13, 2006, Bilbray flew to Washington, DC and was sworn in as a member of the United States House of Representatives by House Speaker Dennis Hastert. On or about June 30, 2006, 17 days after Bilbray was sworn in as a member of the House, Mikel Haas, Registrar of San Diego County, officially completed the audit of election results required for certification, and officially certified the election of Bilbray over Busby based on 163,931 votes cast, of which 2,053 votes were said to be cast on Diebold TSX touchscreens, and the remainder scanned via Diebold Accuvote OS computers ... http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0608/S00316.htm

[Stevepol]

14. A great point. I'm surprised it hasn't been brought up many times already.

[ooglymoogly]

8. I hope that light is a freight train on Colman's crooked track bearing down at full speed...nt

[tanyev]

10. Coleman's about to be Left Behind?

About time.

[Sinistrous]

12. This optimism is encouraging.

But I would like to know on what these Democratic leaders based their conclusion.

[blueclown]

15. JUST SEAT HIM.

STOP WITH THE BULLSHIT.

Who the fuck gives a shit what the GOP thinks? He was certified by the Minnesota Canvassing Board. He should be seated.

[struggle4progress]

16. Coleman Camp Finally Admits It: The Missing Ballots Existed (TPM)

By Eric Kleefeld - February 26, 2009, 4:51PM

The Coleman campaign may have just given away the store on a very important point in their challenge to the Minnesota election results -- conceding that missing ballots from the recount that were still included in the final numbers did in fact exist ...

After a sidebar, Friedberg got up to speak. "We have no doubt that a number of ballots existed inside an envelope that has been lost," he said. "If it appears we're taking the position that these ballots have been invented, that's not our position." He added that they acknowledge that there were some ballots there, and they are now gone. "Does that help?"

To which Lillehaug answered: "It does" ...

The Coleman camp may have just given up way too much. This past Monday night, the court denied Franken's motion for summary judgment on this -- but it was only because the existence of the ballots was still a point of factual contention in the case. Furthermore, the court acknowledged in their opinion the body of case law pointing to including the votes. But they had to settle the factual dispute ...

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-camp-finally-admits-it-the-missing-ballots-existed.php

[gratuitous]

18. No problem for Norm

His last position was that the ballots didn't exist, now he admits they did exist. So now he can file a motion based on the existence of those ballots entirely at odds with everything he's ever said in the case up to this point, and the court will have to rule on that motion as well. When they slap him down, Norm will file a request for reconsideration, and the court will rule on that. Then, when the matter is good and settled . . . Norm will file a motion restating his original position.

The court appears to have lost control of the process, and is letting the Coleman team simply run with whatever occurs to them at the moment. The court dutifully rules on whatever crap Coleman is flinging, and when the ruling is finalized, Coleman files a motion directly opposite the position he just took. and we start all over again. There doesn't appear to be any "law of the case," or a final decision reached on anything. Senate Democrats can state that this circus will leave town come April, but they don't say April of what year.

Minnesota needs to pass a Coleman Amendment to their state election law allowing for the provisional seating of a candidate once the State Canvassing Board certifies the candidate as a winner. As it is, as long as Coleman can keep any semblance of a legal challenge alive, Minnesota state law doesn't recognize a winner of an election. So, for a conscienceless loser, there's no downside to keeping a legal challenge going. A sore loser like Coleman doesn't get penalized, and there's no sanction that can be imposed.

[struggle4progress]

17. Suspect Senate ballots may have innocent explanation

Local officials filled out the documents to record email and fax ballots from overseas, elections chief in St. Louis County says.
By PAT [e-mail], Star Tribune
Last update: February 26, 2009 - 3:06 PM

... Numerous absentee ballot return envelopes had names and street addresses printed as if they were written by the same person. None of them were signed by the voters or witnesses, as required by state law, yet they were marked "accepted" by local elections officials.

Norm Coleman's lawyers on Wednesday released those absentee voting documents from DFL-leaning St. Louis County to bolster their argument that some ballots counted during the election would have been invalid under later rulings of the three-judge panel hearing the U.S. Senate election dispute.

But St. Louis County elections director Paul Tynjala today had a simple, innocent explanation: at least 60 of the envelopes at issue were filled out by local elections officials to correspond with documents signed and sent in by overseas voters. The overseas ballots, emailed or faxed to Minnesota, have a different format but appear to be properly filled out, and the corresponding envelopes were a way to keep track of them, he said ... http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/40354162.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUHK:uUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU



Coleman-Franken recount trial: A possible answer to the 300 odd St. Louis County ballots
By Jay Weiner | Published Thu, Feb 26 2009 3:20 pm

... Noah Kunin, the recount expert at the TheUptake.org, reported .... on his blog: “UOCAVA ballots don't come with the traditional absentee ballot envelopes. They contain a homemade secrecy envelope, voter certificate and a ballot. Those are mailed to the various election units.

“In St. Louis County, they thought it would be a good idea, since those materials come in all sorts of different forms from around the world, to use BLANK absentee ballot envelopes to contain all the materials.

“Then, one City Clerk labeled them all with Names and Basic Addresses so those envelopes would be transferred to the right precinct.”

The UOCAVA application/certificate inside the envelope had the necessary statutory information, Kunin reports ... http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2009/02/26/7009/coleman-franken_recount_trial_a_possible_answer_to_the_300_odd_st_louis_county_ballots



County Says "Illegal" Votes Cited By Coleman Camp Are Really Legit
By Eric Kleefeld - February 26, 2009, 2:59PM

... Here's the deal: Overseas voters (typically in the military) receive special absentee envelopes that don't match up with the standard form that Minnesota uses. But Duluth has a policy of taking those overseas ballots after they receive them from the county, and then putting them inside standard Minnesota ones, filling in just enough info (name and address) to sort them out and get them delivered to the precincts on Election Night.

Thus, the county believes that those unsigned envelopes were in fact valid votes, that happened to be put inside envelopes filled out by county employees. County elections director Paul Tynjala just told TPM that he's confident the 60-plus envelopes he's seen were all in order, and the county is pulling the originals just to double-check ... http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/county-says-illegal-votes-cited-by-coleman-camp-are-really-legit.php