Franken wins by 312 votes.
So said the Election Contest Court late Monday.
In true rabbinic style, those words at the top are THE text. What follows below is merely commentary, presented today with a tinge of Orange just past the fold......
TODAY is DAY 2 since the ECC handed down its decision in Coleman v. Franken. Coleman has 8 days left to file an appeal with the MN Supreme Court or the decision becomes final. The clock ticks. The leaves fall from the calendar. The cookie crumbles. The pickle drips.........
Fallout Landing like Turkeys from a Helicopter
Well the echoes of Monday evening's decision from the Election Contest Court declaring Al Franken the senator elect from Minnesota continue to reverberate like the shouting of a hung over Norwegian calling in the North Woods for more aquavit. LOTS of names" weighing in:
The RNC had something to say:
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement today.
"I am glad that Senator Coleman is appealing the recent court order in Minnesota. More than 4,400 voters remain disenfranchised because judges ignored equal protection concerns and the facts from Election Day. The Republican Party will continue to strongly support Senator Coleman’s appeals until we are confident that no voter is left behind."
DNC chair Tim Kaine answered:
"Enough is enough. It is time for Norm Coleman to concede and for Al Franken to be sworn in as the next U.S. Senator from Minnesota. The voters of Minnesota months ago elected Al Franken to the Senate — and during every step in the legal process that judgment has been confirmed."
But more than that the DNC is set to begin running a radio ad in Minneapolis & St. Paul calling on Coleman to give it up.
"(The ad) accuses the incumbent senator and national Republicans of wanting "to thwart the will of the voters" and delay the outcome.
"Enough is enough," says the announcer, noting that Franken won the original election, the recount and a legal challenge. "America is in an economic crisis - and Minnesota faces unique challenges of its own. Minnesota deserves two Senators and voters deserve to have their verdict stand without delay."
The Coleman campaign sent out a new spokesman to reply to the ad using the same wet dishrag rhetoric we've learned to expect:
Asked to respond to the new ad, Coleman spokesman Tom Erickson said: "We'd invite them to spend that money to join us to ensure that the 4,400 hard working disenfranchised Minnesotans, who care about the future of this country, are afforded their due process and equal protection rights. Perhaps the DNC and the President would support an electoral stimulus package that ensures that each and every Minnesotan who cast a legal ballot in the last election has their vote counted."
Above from Politico/ Ben Smith
Joe the Scarhead(!) on his morning TV show:
"When are the Republicans going to give up the ghost on this? Seriously. Norm, I like you. Ya lost, OK?.... Can we seat?.... Making Amy Klobuchar carry all the load....It is not fair to the constituents in Minnesota..."
Joe?! Nice to see the old adage still has force: even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while.
Chuck Todd from MSNBC is impressed by Franken (my emphasis at the end.)
Franken's discipline: By the way, and it's a point we've made before, but it's been pretty impressive how Franken has been so disciplined during this recount period....... Clearly, the GOP thought they were dealing with the stereotype that was Al Franken -- not the guy who proved to be a candidate who, well, got more votes than Norm Coleman. In fact, this has been a problem for the GOP in general the last few years when it comes to dealing with Democrats: They believe their own stereotypes about their opponents, rather than actually dealing with their opponents at face value.
Nothing like believing your own propaganda..... after all once you've been greeted as liberators life after is just dull....
Michael Brodkorb of Minnesota Democrats Exposed (title says it all) reports he "did an interview with WCCO-TV (the big local station) on the Recount (aired at 6pm).....Senator Coleman should keep on fighting, keep on (the) march to victory". Ah its spring and the lemmings are in heat.......
Nate Silver, the Holy Odin of Numbers and Crunching Thereof believes Norm's chances of pulling this one out are "in Calista Flockhart territory"..... the woman who casts no shadow on a sunny day.
Dave Mindeman at MN Network for Progressive Action has a nice analysis of the increasing pressure on various players in the saga: Pawlenty, Norm himself, the MN GOP, etc. Good analysis of the ripples in the pond....(Ginsberg fell in?)......
http://www.mnpact.org/...
Lawyers Swinging Light Sabers Episode ??
Its been quite a while, since before the ECC convened, since the lawyers on both sides got to swing their light sabers at each other in public. Oh Ben the Ginz has been doing hula hoop shimmies with his, but its just not the same when there are no Jedi around.
Ginsberg is still delusional or dizzy from all that spinning:
"If you read this opinion, the court was very defensive of the Minnesota system. The purpose of the contest is to be protective of the rights of voters ...In spending so much time kind of patting themselves on the back about the Minnesota system the court, I think, kind of missed what the real picture is."
Ginsberg got off a press release/ public statement for the Team Norm at 7:00 in the morning, Tuesday: (Demko, Minn Post)
"As the record in this trial shows, the volume and significance of the equal protection violations is great enough to turn the results of this election," Ginsberg said. "You cannot know who won this election without coming to grips with the equal protection issue."
Excuse me, Mr. Sith Lord? The ECC gripped the equal protection issue like Darth Vader doing a choke hold using the Force at five meters. The Court gave equal protection pages 33 to 58 in their decision, addressing every angle. They gave it a stun gun blast, used Bush v. Gore to slap it seven ways to Sunday, cited precedents and case law from here to Alpha Centuri, laughed "robotic sameness" off the roof of the IDS tower, allowed for humans to be human and local conditions to be adapted to MN law, and showed equal protection as grounds for ANYTHING in this case is a delusional fantasy that would be an insult to the paper upon which it is filed. Harumph!
Ginsberg also argued that the ruling by the three-judge panel wrongly ignored double counting of ballots, as well as 132 Minneapolis ballots that were lost but still included in the final vote tally. "Regrettably, this court decided to take expediency over accuracy and never wanted to kick open the hood and look at the engine," he said.
Actually Ben, they WERE accurate, excruciatingly so, and as transparent as 20 inches of ice under your pickup on Lake Minnetonka in January. Ben you're just addled because Norm, Joe, Fritz, Tony and you on Spaceballs 1 have found the Court pulled the emergency brake ("Warning: Never use") on your case as it was doing Ludicrous speed. You think it still is going at "plaid" but actually you and your Dark Helmet have hit the dashboard and you haven't called for the 5 minute smoke break yet.
Meanwhile one of our heroes, Marc Elias, weighed in with a presser from his home in DC. He swung the blue light saber that hummed musically:
"We are extremely pleased with the court’s final opinion," Elias told reporters. "Al Franken won this election fair and square. Al Franken won this election because more Minnesotans voted for him than for Norm Coleman or for any other candidate."
More Minnesotans voted for (Franken) than for Norm... well that is obviously Elias doing one of the roll-on-the-floor moves with the light saber blade apt to come flailing out at an unexpected angle. Its necessary to make a low, rolling move like this sometimes, not to go for the legs, but because its the only way to look some of the "morans" straight in the eye!
........"It’s extremely unlikely that the U.S. Supreme Court would have reason to take this case," Elias said, noting that the nation’s top court has only heard two election cases in recent memory. "If former Sen. Coleman chooses to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, I think that will be the end of the road for him."
And its STILL, for all of you usage mavens, "FORMER Senator Coleman"! Right on Good Jedi Elias!
Eric Black of the Minn Post sees the pressure building steadily on Governor Pawlenty and tries to read the cross-surrents building on him, along with some possible deals that could be made by T-Paw and Norm and/or with Cornyn or the national GOP.
http://www.minnpost.com/...
And Politico reports Franken's victory has been noticed at a VERY high level:
" ...for the first time, the White House weighed in on the matter, if gingerly.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs repeated the judges’ opinion that the election had been conducted "’fairly, impartially and accurately’ and that Al Franken received in that election the most votes."
"We look forward, hopefully soon, to having an additional U.S. senator representing the people of the state of Minnesota," Gibbs said from the White House podium.
You know, looking back over this list of quotes there is an interesting amount of pressure building here.....
PS. On a personal/professional note: The 4 volunteer editors/ Amazons (they are all wonderful, Lake-Wobegon-strong women!) who are working on roping in and editing these diaries into a book have come to the point where it is time to ask YOU a question.
The Kos community that has commented across these diaries has shown themselves to be bright, witty, informative, articulate, respectful, supportive and good humored. All those traits are in play for the following request:
We are looking for a TITLE for the book of these collected diaries (with selected comments). From a marketing/commercial standpoint, what could the book be called?
A couple parameters. The general feeling among the Amazons is a "Main Title: Longer Sub title" might be the best formula. No need to come up with both ends of that; we might find a pairing from 2 different people works best.
Also, my own feeling is the focus of these diaries has been a defense and explication of democracy in action. Obviously Coleman and Franken are the main players and just as obviously my partisan leanings toward Dean Barkley have been pretty evident;-). But ultimately the story is NOT about them. Its about a free people choosing someone in a fair, transparent election to represent them at the national level, and the intricacies of dealing with a hair-breadth close outcome.
So a title like, "Senator Horse Dentures, Go Home!" while emotionally satisfying, rather misses the point. So does "Franken Fools the Frozen: Laughing to the Senate."
Many of you have said kind things about the uniqueness of these diaries, how they have captured a certain je ne sais quoi of being on-line, a kind of distillation of what blogging is. We are working hard to keep that lively, urgent, semi-snarky, thoughtful tossed salad mix going in the book and it might be good to think of a title or subtitle that notes or alludes to that. "A blogger's view of politics"/"blogging to the Senate"/"Recounting in the Internet Age"/..... something along those lines to maybe jog your thinking?
Anyway, if you have an idea: a) post it in the comments today and tomorrow; or b) shoot me an e-mail (click on "winerev" at the top right of this page and my address is on the click thru page.)
Put in as many as you like. No extra points for speed since a lot of great ideas are found in the parking lot or on the dashboard. (You know, when you've been to the church council meeting and talked things over. Then out in the parking lot three of you stand by Lois' car and come up with 4 other things that were WAY better than the last 2 hours? Or driving home you say to the dashboard, "What I should have said was....." These ARE often the best ideas, so come back with more tomorrow.)
We'll sift through the ideas (along with others we've already received in response to dairy v. 95) and either Friday or Monday put up a poll of the best ones. So YOU will help pick. YOUR vote will count and EVERY vote will be counted! Since it will be on-line ALL of you will be voting absentee (indeed, in person voting would scare us!). The Amazon poll judges are spread from NY to AZ.
Play nice. "Ginsberg-ing" is considered a high crime and misdemeanor and will be vigorously prosecuted and is grounds for un-nice punishments...... just as soon as we figure out what "Ginsberg-ing" is---- but with a name like that it HAS to be bad! (The anti-Smuckers!)
So primaries the next 2 days, general election either Friday or Monday.
Wednesday Morning Minnesota Media
Although nobody asked me the Star Tribune decided to put a Kevin Diaz story on the front page, top about..... the reactions to the ECC court decision (but I had it first, Kevin.) A recap of what you read above but with a couple additions:
".....the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) sent out an appeal for donations calling Monday's court decision "a fundamentally misguided ruling that disenfranchises over 4,000 Minnesota voters."
The fundraising message, signed by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the NRSC chairman, said fundamental principles of due process and equal protection are "under attack in Minnesota."
You know, unless one of the Votefor America-type spreadsheet gurus corrects me, I understand about 4400 absentee votes were REJECTED in MN because they did NOT conform to the LAW! So Big John? Ginsberg? Do you want to explain why you want to count ILLEGAL votes? Or why there should be laws about absentee voting AT ALL? Sheesh!
Then there is THIS reciting of the Ginsberg script by a REAL election thief (compare with Ginsberg's language):
Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Elections commissioner and point man on voting rights in the Bush administration's Justice Department........
"Frankly, it seemed like the three-judge panel was more concerned with protecting the supposed reputation of Minnesota as conducting elections in a [fair] manner than seriously dealing with the problems that came up in the recount," he said.
Spakovsky is someone who should never be allowed near an election of any kind, not even a coin flip in a pub to see who goes first throwing darts.
And another voice heard from:
Democrat Jim Oberstar, the dean of the Minnesota congressional delegation, also weighed in Tuesday. "The process has been full and fair, but it has now run longer than the [Elmer] Andersen-[Karl] Rolvaag recount of 1962-63, which Rolvaag won by 92 votes," said Oberstar, who has largely stayed out of the recount fight. "Norm Coleman owes it to the people of Minnesota to take a decency page out of Elmer Andersen's record of public service and end this travail, while people still have a positive impression of him -- or risk leaving a sore loser legacy."
But enough with photogenic heads talking (Ben Ginsberg obviously excepted.) Leave it to a Kossack to cut through to the core of it:
[Comment From Tomtech]
I looked through the (decision) and Coleman got his way on witness registrations, ID number, and signature mismatches. What he didn't get was the assumption the voter was registered and the assumption the voter didn't vote. Since every county checked those he has no "equal protection" argument left. All he has is the "due process" argument but his team failed to provide the necessary evidence that the votes were valid using his own arguments.
NICE punctuation point on this whole thing, TomTech!
Hope this will hold you while you finish up your taxes (and remember, Form 4868- Extension to File-- is your friend if things get too harried.) Don't forget to propose a title!
Thats the latest from yust southeast of Lake Wobegon.
Shalom.