The Republican mouthpieces, starting with the WSJ editorial page are saying that Franken's win is built on double-counted ballots, lost ballots, found ballots and outlandish rulings.
Though Franken won the recount, he's not being seated and they're saying the delay can take weeks or longer.
Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Scarborough are all running with the WSJ claim. I'm not seeing anybody from the Democrats refuting that claim.
I wasn't there, but I assume that the WSJ/Hannity claim probably has no merit: Minn. has a prominent Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty and he has not complained about how the recount was conducted. Given Pawlenty's own VP/Presidential ambitions, I'm sure he would be front-and-center taking a lead role in opposing the election board if they were rigging the count.
- The Democrats need to send somebody out to give their side.
- I accept that Franken cannot be seated as a senator yet. Still, Franken should be given most of the courtesies of a senator except the ability to vote on bills. The Democratic senators should invite him to all of their meetings, give him committee assignments and he should sit with the Democratic senators at Obama's inauguration. Reid should alsoannounce that Franken's seniority in the senate will be measured from the scheduled beginning of his term, not from the date that he is finally seated. (Frank Lautenberg left the Senate for two years and then came back in place of Toricelli. Lautenberg was given seniority based on his previous service. So those rules seem to be flexible.)