Franken leads +246.
As often happens with a Monday edition since courts don't sit on weekends and they didn't issue a ruling the Elections Contest Court (ECC) front is quiet.
Here's a little roundup of where we stand and what is coming up today, this week, and maybe when final arguments will come up. (Yep, I used the phrase "final arguments.")
C'mon past the Orange fold if you like.....
Election Contest Court (ECC)
Court resumes today at 9:00amCentral DAYLIGHT Time (for those of you still making the switch that Benjamin Franklin called "cutting off a foot of a blanket and sewing in onto the other end to make a longer blanket.") The usual gang at the UpTake will be covering as usual.http://www.theuptake.com/
Team Franken will resume its case (you know, witnesses, affidavits, registered voters, competent attorneys) and mostly they will continue building the numbers in their direction. Since the ECC has made it plain they will adhere to a strict standard in admitting previously rejected ballots AND they have indicated they will rule on EACH voter appearing, it behooves both sides to get a string of their people across the witness stand. (Team Coleman managed 21 in 5 weeks and the Franken side Thursday offered written arguments why 15 of them might not stand up to court scrutiny.) The Franken team opened with 23 voters on their first day and went through about 15 or so a day Wednesday and Thursday. At that pace they will crank through about 75 by the end of this week.
AH the end of this week. Franken attorney Marc Elias said in the Friday (I think; maybe Thursday) presser that his side had about a week's worth more work and could possibly finish this Friday! Wouldn't THAT be wonderful?
But unlikely. A lot of that depends on how many objections and arguments the Coleman legal team raises and how extensive they are on cross-examination. Nonetheless Coleman objections, arguments and cross-exams so far have been brief at best, so........ we'll see. Better to plan for next Monday or Tuesday and be willing to be surprised.
Oh... and that doesn't settle things quite yet (but it IS a marker.) The rules are that contestANT (Coleman) presents and rests. (Done.) ContesTEE (Franken) presents (in process) and rests. ContestANT gets Rebuttal.
Rebuttal. Now subject to input from the legal types hanging around here this is actually fairly short. Coleman can call (rather limited) witnesses to REBUT testimony from Franken's case. (If a Franken election judge saw Col. Mustard vote in the library, carrying a pistol, Coleman can call a rebuttal witness to testify it was actually Professor Plum in the library with the pistol. Also I believe the Colemaniks would be able to introduce evidence that Col. Mustard was NOT registered to vote at the time.) And its safe to assume the Coleman team (just like the Franken side) will try to knock out some of the voter/witnesses Franken had on the stand. (It could be harder; Franken's side seems more prepared, but the Colemaniks need to try.)
But the Colemaniks CANNOT introduce NEW evidence ("It was Miss Scarlet in the kitchen with the knife") or call witnesses that are unrelated directly to something Franken has already put in the record. Some things I've read say this MIGHT take two days, but as with all things Recount related, "We'll see."
All of this means of course that somewhere toward the end of next week the last acts of the ECC will swing into view: closing arguments, and the decision. More on those as we get information and get closer.
The Decision: Motion to Dismiss.
We may get another peek at the tea leaves on which way the ECC's sails are set for the wind. Thursday the Franken Team filed a Motion to Dismiss (rather routine) Coleman's case on grounds he hadn't MADE his case (somewhat less routine because there's something to this!)
Hey practicing/retired lawyer types: in your time in court, how often did somebody actually win their case on a Motion to Dismiss/Directed Verdict, stopping everything with a thunderclap? Seems pretty rare to me but I'm not a courtroom denizen.
Friday morning the Coleman Team filed their written response and Friday afternoon was a long set of oral arguments by both sides in front of the ECC. The Court promised action "soon."
Well today, Monday, in courtroom terms would be "soon." And you know, they just might. There is a fairly easy way for the court to rule that moves things along (although doesn't tip their hand really at all.) Franken's Motion had 14 numbered sections where they asked the court to rule to exclude certain votes on certain grounds. Coleman's Reply said they would NOT pursue action (from the ECC) on #s 1,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 of the Franken filing.
So since both side agree on these the ECC could easily come out today and say, "So ordered (or maybe stipulated), those numbered sections we grant motion to dismiss in part. The rest of the sections we deny motion to dismiss in part."
Now since the 4 remaining sections cover the same old dirty snowbank Team Coleman has been making slush balls from since day one of this trial its not that great a gain for Franken. Except: it keeps the ECC in the habit of agreeing with the Franken points more than the Coleman points in the case. That is a habit we LIKE.
And if/when the ECC rules we will call on our legal Kossacks again to study the language they use. Routine? Pointed? Word for word quote from Marc Elias? Do they say, "We so order these 10 points dismissed into the big boat because they are no walleye."?
That will tell us something.
Of course if they go BEYOND these 10 points that will REALLY tell us something.
Here are the 4 remaining points from the Franken motion:
#2 Improperly Rejected Absentee Ballots: Where the Frankenites shrink the Coleman universe from 4797 down to 9, and along the way knock down 15 of the 21 Coleman voters who testified.
#3 Duplicate ballots (double counted?? NOT yet any evidence)
#5 the Minneapolis missing "133"
#6 Some of the 933 ballots opened and counted Jan 3 which now the Coleman team wnat UN-counted.
If the ECC grants Motion to Dismiss on #2 the case is over and Franken goes to the Senate because there are not enough votes in the other 3 combined to overcome a +246 Franken lead.
If the ECC dismisses #3 or #5 that would be a clear sign from the court and a stiff wind from the west, mates. Hoist all sails because the USS Franken (USS in this case = United States Senator) could clear the Duluth lift bridge and put to sea. He'd be on his way.
#6 is the one connected to the Coleman writhing on the hook of the Friday the 13th ECC ruling. (That day the ECC ruled out accepting certain categories of absentee ballots; Coleman's universe of possible ballots shrank by over 1000 and they've been hacked about it ever since. They also claim the Court's ruling should mean certain ballots counted on Jan. 3 fall into those excluded categories from 2/13 and so should also be disallowed. It would open the door to UN-counting ballots already IN the certified count. The ECC has not budged on that front.) The court has been defending its rulings very steadily, turning down Coleman on several angles on the 2/13 ruling.
If the Court would grant dismissal of #6 it would be a step beyond what both camps have agreed to but mostly an affirmation of the court's prior rulings. BUT it would also mean a certain limit on how much slack they are willing to cut the Coleman team (it has been considerable, but this would be a limit). If the court does knock this one out they would scurry to chambers during the next recess to tune in the UpTake to watch the Ben Ginsberg Hallway Show. Ginsberg would come off like a hall monitor who's been sampling contraband from the "bad kid's" locker, a demented whipsaw combination of uppers, downers, low dose poison and steroid rage overlaid with ugly..... you know, Limbaugh on a Tuesday. (Attn. press: long range lenses advised. Threat level orange.)
Monday Morning Minnesota Media
Rachel Stassen Berger of the St. Paul Pioneer Press had a nice, balanced round up of the trial in her weekend piece here:http://www.twincities.com/...
And because Rachel wrote something more than copying a Joe Bazooka gum wrapper comic in her piece that means St. Paul wins the more informed citizen award for the day. Over in Minneapolis, less than nothing happened, so the citizenry was not only kept ignorant, but their ignorance was actually increased by some birdcage liner blowing through the streets creating a public eyesore. Your WineRev doesn't like littering so he did some clean up here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
(I know, I know. There's a rule like: A writer is on the downslope when he starts quoting himself. Fine. Most rules have an exception. Yesterday was an exception.)
The BigE at the MN Progessive Project had up a couple stories, the one with a heart-pounding headline from Sunday, "Coleman's election contest suit could be dismissed tomorrow." meaning Monday.http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/
And among the TradMed WCCO, the big TV & radio complex in Minneapolis has a good wrapup online of where we stand. Solid, straight forward and useful:http://wcco.com/...
PS A BIG thank you to all of you who stopped by yesterday's diary with comments and ideas for a winerev project collecting the series into something larger. You people are GREAT and I doff (DOFF!) my hat to you for your heads, your hearts and your experiences.
Hope that will hold you until the Uptake goes on the air at 9:00am. I've got the early shift down at the wine shop but I'll try and post if its slow and over lunch. Thats the latest from yust southeast of Lake Wobegon.
Shalom.