MN-Sen: Franken petitions court for certificate to be provisionally seated

The days turn into weeks, and Minnesota still has no junior Senator representing the state in Washington.

Democrat Al Franken continues to lead Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes, and has been certified the winner by the state's board of elections. But Coleman continues to fight in Minnesota's courts, with a suit claiming that some ballots were counted twice and other ballots wrongly rejected (after long fighting the additional counting of ballots, Coleman has apparently identified 654 rejected absentee ballots he likes and wants them counted).

As Coleman's suit makes its way through the legal system, Franken - at this point the certified winner - petitioned the Governor and Secretary of State to grant him an election certificate, which would enable him to serve provisionally until Coleman's legal challenges were finished.

Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty and Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, however, refused to do so, so Franken has petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court to force their hand:

In Franken's petition to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, he asks justices to order Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to issue him an election certificate. Pawlenty and Ritchie on Monday refused to do so, saying state law did not permit it. Franken lawyer Marc Elias cited another part of state law Tuesday in arguing that Franken should be certified and seated pending the outcome of Coleman's contest in court.

"The impetus for this is the need for Minnesota to have full representation in Washington, D.C.," Elias said.

Coleman's campaign vehemently opposes this, and no wonder; they understand fully that the strongly Democratic Senate is far less likely to seat Coleman, and get rid of Franken, once Franken is safely ensconced in DC, than they would be to ultimately seat Coleman if neither candidate is provisionally seated.

Coleman attorney Tony Trimble, however, said the Franken strategy is based on the belief that "it's very tough for the Senate to boot someone out of that seat" once it is filled provisionally and said the DFLer is citing a provision of state law that applies to election to the Legislature.

Although Senate Democrats have indicated that they wouldn't seat Franken provisionally because of the threat of a Republican filibuster, the Franken campaign is banking on that changing if a certificate were issued by the GOP governor and DFL secretary of state. "I believe if he had a certificate, the chances of a Republican filibuster would all but disappear," Elias said.

Coleman's no idiot. He knows that if Franken goes to the Senate, he's not coming back. Franken knows it, too.