Talk about thin. EVERYBODY has taken the last days off: The Star Tribune, The Pioneer Press, The Hooterville World Guardian, and, bless them, the judges of the Elections Contest Court (ECC).
Franken leads +249.
MN Supreme Court: No decision on Franken motion to force a Certificate of Election. (Day 19 since hearing.)
Just a little recap and space for you to comment if/when the ECC issues a ruling on Coleman's motion from last Friday morning.....
Saturday's Diary here (Recounting (!) Franken Attorney David Lillehuag's blistering rebuttal to a Coleman legal team filing to the ECC to void a Stipulation with Prejudice. Every legal eagle on these boards has been aghast the Coleman team would even TRY to undo a stipulation with prejudice.)http://www.dailykos.com/...
Sunday's Diary here (Exploring the UF: Universe de Franken; Team Franken met a 2:00pm extended deadline Saturday and filed their amended list of rejected absentee ballots they would like to have the Court consider if/when they put on their side of the case.)
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Kossack TomTech, who crunches numbers in the MN Senate recount the way Nate Silver figures the odds of a triple after the 5th inning by a left handed batter against a right handed reliever when the game is still in daylight east of the Mississippi......., has done some number crunching on the last of the Coleman universe and what we might see this week here:http://www.dailykos.com/...
Don't worry folks this is just a breather. All eyes and ears will be on the ECC this morning. For you if you can't be in room 300 of the Minnesota Judicial Center then the UpTake is for you here:http://www.theuptake.com/
In a last minute move Friday (and the timing itself smelled like Team Coleman's locker room an hour after a bean, bacon and bean session from 'Blazing Saddles') the Colemaniks moved for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that would undo a stipulation with prejudice and open the door to UN-counting ballots already included in the state certified total. The ECC took written work and held about 30 minutes of orals on the issue Friday.
Nothing came down over the weekend so will the hammer fall this morning? This was SO over the top for lawyers that David Lillehaug for Team Franken asked the Court to sanction the Coleman lawyers. As vigorously as lawyers argue with each other in court you often see them mingling in the lobby with a genial air, even be friends as they clash inside.
But to ask for sanctions (which neither side has done before in any of the other claims, counter-claims, bargain-counter-claims, motions for, motions five, motions six, motions against, motions to deny, motions to despair) is QUITE the step. This is something nasty happening in the rink and the fans are littering the ice with crumpled beer cups and wadded programs. Boo birds are roaring and the glass is thumping as fans pound their fists on it. This is the coach standing on the bench with one foot on the side boards calling the ref to skate over so he can say, "Are you going to let Ginz LeBerg cross-check like that? That's a major! Throw him the sin bin!!", accompanied by a few choice gestures learned in the Major Junior League in Halifax.
I don't know we'll GET sanctions but we WILL get a ruling, if not today, then soon, on the request for a TRO.
Until that comes down its all quiet in MN and thats all there is from yust southeast of Lake Wobegon.
PS. Turning to things personal I'm still trying to get my novel published. As part of that process (which has actually gone on longer than the MN Senate recount--- although a minority of scientists doubt such a time actually exists and is merely theoretical) I have been using a query letter trying to snag an agent. As kossack stella ray so helpfully noted "if you don't get a bite after 25 agents, the problem is your query letter."
The idea is to catch the eye of an agent so they will ask to see a "partial" or a "full" manuscript, at which point the work has to stand on its own (or, likely, be re-written again.) Soooo.... you need to note length, genre, title, a "hook" that might become a jacket blurb, and, in one magnificently crafted paragraph, what the book is about. You add writing credits if you have any and describe who the audience might be.
Ideally your author's "voice" comes through in the query letter and the agent KNOWS your are the new Tom Clancy or Danielle Steele.
Sooo...... I'm going to put myself out here and ask for you input, analysis, suggestions, revisions, rewordings. The talent and insight on these boards is extraordinary (which is part of why I keep writing the Franken-Coleman series; your comments MAKE MY DAY and give me encouragement and insight to write tomorrow's entry.) If I could tap some of your thoughts I'd be grateful.
Dear Miss Agent
I am seeking representation for my 108,000 word historical-fiction novel Encampment, when a neglected national reunion of old war enemies could have spared America decades of racial hatred.
50 years ago the Confederate army taught Zacahariah Hampton to march and drink, both of which he still does, but he was already a bigot. Fellow Savannahian Lucius Robinson ran away from slavery, but half a century under Jim Crow has almost crushed his dignity and pride. Vermont abolitionist Calvin Salisbury lives an uncomfortable retirement, lamenting as the the triumph of his Union army days and the victory of his ideals has decayed into a new slavery of old bigotry.
In July 1913 54,000 white Civil War veterans gathered at Gettysburg for a week-long reunion. 100,000 civilians a day came to see if North & South were still at war or could make peace. If 5000 black veterans had dared join them could all the veterans have shown America a healing of blue, gray, black and white?
Miss Agent, I believe Encampment will find an audience among several overlapping circles:
>war veterans and their families,
>African-Americans
>men looking for fiction beyond action/adventure and techno-thrillers
>the Boomer and Silent generations passing toward elderhood
>Civil War aficionados
>Southerners.
While Encampment is my premiere effort at a novel, as an author (Generations of Faith, Alban Press, 2002) I am familiar with the need for edting and revisions. Both the Historical Novel Society Conference in Albany in 2007 and the Midwest Writer’s Conference in Madison in ‘08 not only stressed this need but each time caused me to re-write Encampment yet again. Close yet critical friends say the new drafts are stronger, but still, they are friends and I only hope they are correct.
Thank you for taking the time to consider representing my work. I would be delighted to send either a partial or full upon request. I look forward to hearing from you as you have time to respond.
Respectfully,
WineRev
And thanks in advance for any thoughts you have.