Franken wins by +312 votes.
TODAY is the deadline for Norm Coleman to file his brief in his appeal to the MN Supreme Court.
A couple things to think about after the fold....
Coleman's Appeal Brief
TODAY is the day set by the MN Supreme Court for Norm Coleman's appeal brief to be filed. Back on 4/23 we had his Statement of the Case, a 7 page sketch of what his appeal will be about. But today the whole bowl of oatmeal is due, complete with law, precedents, case citations, footnotes, "therefore"s and "in so fars". No doubt this will be THE news of the day; feel free to post info and comments here when it comes down.
Now WILL it come down? Norm COULD ask for an extension of time and lawyers around here have pointed out courts do grant these. I doubt it given the high profile of the case and Coleman's statements from a couple weeks back that his attorneys were already constructing it BUT this IS Team Norm we are talking about; a legal team that can earn themselves a $7500 sanction from a court in the highest profile case tried in MN in 40 years. Would he really risk the uproar WE would raise about 'stalling', 'legal filibuster', etc. It might be legally permissible to ask but not politically possible.
And if he asks, does the Court grant? Grant less than he asks "48 hours, not 10 days."? And what will that say about the court?
If this date moves, do the other dates (like Franken's response due 5/11) move with it? Does the date for Oral arguments stay June 1? Non-lawyers among us want to know.
Specter of Fallout
Norm's tin ear is in excellent working condition noting what Arlen Specter's party switch means to him is...... money.
Republican Norm Coleman said Wednesday that Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to become a Democrat wouldn't mean big changes in his fight for Minnesota's vacant Senate seat — except in his quest for cash.
"It probably makes fundraising a little bit easier," Coleman told the Pioneer Press.
Al Franken's had a reaction too. Not a statement or press comment. Maybe its better described as a PRE-action.
Yeah, yeah. Officially he had this to say:
Democrat Al Franken spokesman Andy Barr released the following in response to Senator Arlen Specter's switch:
Sen.-elect Franken looks forward to working with Senators of both parties to make progress on President Obama's agenda and move our country forward.
But Chris Steller at MN Independent dug out his copy of "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" (still true since 1996) and looked up Specter. Franken thought Arlen had a shot at the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination under the right circumstances. Those circumstances?
I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. As I see it, there are two possible scenarios that could lead to an Arlen Convention. The first is a plane crash. A 747 carrying Dole, Gramm, Buchanan, and Alexander crashes ... on top of Newt Gingrich and Colin Powell.
The second is a bus crash. It plays out kind of the same way.
Thanks Chris.
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
Bits and Bites
Al has provisionally hired a chief of staff:
http://www.minnpost.com/...
Michele Bachmann is so unsettled by Al(an) Stuart Franken becoming Senator she's been watching "Stuart Smalley" re-runs and believing (*sigh*; She is the MN answer to Reichwingers who say, "There's morans in MN too and they deserve a representative in Congress") that "SMALLEY" had something to do with the Hoover administration that could be blamed on FDR...... or something. Whatever the hell this is it is vintage Bachmann:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
Late night last night. Long days in the wine sale. Not a lot to report to you and I have an early appointment but I hope this will hold you until the briefing breaks. Thats the latest & least from yust southeast of Lake Wobegon.
Shalom.