Coleman And Franken Make A Deal

Minnesota Public Radio reports that Sen. Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken have struck a deal on disputed absentee ballots in their recount.

The plan they've submitted, which must be reviewed by the Minnesota Supreme Court, would count rejected absentees only if both sides agree they were wrongly cast aside.

The proposal draws out the process past the high court's end-of-the-year deadline. It could leave Minnesota without a decision on who won the race until after the new class of Senators is sworn in on Jan. 6.

Ritchie said concluding the work in time for the new session of Congress is not something he's at all concerned about.

"We've been really clear in saying our top priority is accuracy and transparency and the timing thing is just not our issue," [Secretary of State Mark] Ritchie said. "I want to put an underline, we don't care as long as it's accurate and we've done it in an accurate and transparent way. We don't care when it's done."

Coleman, meanwhile, lost a bid to have 16 discarded challenges reconsidered. His only current hope seems to lie in dubious legal maneuvers, such as using the Election Day results over the recount results in 25 specific precincts.

UPDATE: The Minnesota Supreme Court has granted a request from the Franken and Coleman campaigns to approve a framework for counting wrongly-rejected absentee ballots.

Comments

[murphy80]

coleman is ssooo repulsive.

[indypete]

Go sit with Fairandindependent

[salh]

If you think Coleman is repulsive. Al Franken is a million times more repulsive!!!!!!!

[nighthawk808]

I wasn't aware that democracy was done by deals. I thought that's what votes were supposed to be for.

[pir anha]

the term "deal" is wrong here. they struck an agreement on how those disputed voted will be treated. which the MN supreme court had tasked them with,

there's nothing shady about this. in fact, MN is setting a great example of how to deal with a close election.

[Fairandindependent]

Frankin is a CHEAT !!!!!!

[whosyourdaddy]

Please get a grip. They are all cheats. Including Coleman.

[indypete]

Hi again, Whos!

If you try to get me near a Starbucks I'll whack you upside the head with a Richard Dawkins book!

Merry Crimbo, buddy!

[AndThenOneDay]

How so?

[sansego2000]

How is Franken more of a cheat than Coleman?

[DIAGUY]

He's not , both sides are going to pull every trick out of their hats....before it's over....they both will belong in jail.

[indypete]

Um....

You're not really trying, are you.

[AndThenOneDay]

Apparently the 'fair' part of being fairandindependent does not extend to explaining himself. Just hurl an insult or an innuendo and scamper back to the sidelines. Lame is as lame does....

[CTtransplant]

No basis in fact for your comment, Fairandindependent...which makes you 'Unfairandindependent'

[kwright]

Ah, I hope the folks in Minnesota are ready for "The Al Franken Decade." It should be a hoot!
If I lived in Minnesota he certainly would get my vote

[marm]

It seems singularly appropriate that someone who has been a comedian should be involved in such a bizarre election. I hope Al gets to laugh all the way to Washington.

[LaurenMarie984]

I hope he writes a book about it. "Lies and the Lying Liars who tell Lies" was the funniest bestest book ever. This situation should create some great material.

[live]

huff needs to update- MN supreme court just ruled against Coleman! congrats Al!

w

[live]

huff needs to update-MN supreme court just ruled against coleman!!
congrats Sen. Franken. see you in court coleman as he wil probably contest this but it should be certified by then for Al

[bygollymissmolly]

What I want to know is what happened to the MN Supreme Court ruling due yesterday on Coleman's claims about the supposedly double counted votes? It seems to have disappeared into the ether.

[BillMelater]

Don't make deals with the devil, Al!

[SirRealDeal]

For morbid curiosity, I go over to Free Republic to read their take on politics. They are so sad. Since the election is not going their way, they have decided that the fix is in and the election has been rigged by the dems. As far as they are concerned, the only fair election is one that the republicians win. If the democrats win, then they talk about how the voters are ignorant, or sheeple who have been deceived by nefarious means by devious politicians. Though what is fun is to watch them go after Republicans they don't like.
There is one site that says there are three parties in America. Patriots, Socialists, and ignorant voters. I think that sums up the stance of many of these right wing republicans.

[blastit]

Are you surprised its the rethuglicans all they know how to do is accuse other people of what they do...


The only cheats are the Republicans, but if the Dems did cheat I honestly wouldn't care at this point because no republican deserves to win and thats the truth they are the party of lying , stealing , cheating and corruption

[F33bs]

No Republican deserves to win because they are liars, yet if a Democrat rigged the election you wouldn't care?

Yes, you would care. Because you're an American, and anybody who cheats our system should be held accountable.

[RedKnuckles]

Big mistake expecting a republican to use fair judgement. Essentially he will object to every single vot for Franken.

[bygollymissmolly]

He won't know who the vote is for because the absentee ballots are still sealed in envelopes. But, he can still game the system by objecting to any vote from a heavily Democratic district. But, he will have to give a reason for why that particular absentee ballot should not be counted. If the reason is not one of the four legal reasons for why an absentee vote should not be counted, he will look like he is gaming the system.

[carsntrucks]

Norm Coleman is so...scary-looking. I'm so tired of looking at his face.

[Karma7]

apparantly there were enough scary-looking republicans who dug his mug-

Can't believe that Minnesota , known for being smart enough to have had Jesse Ventura as their former Governor, would have nearly half its voters stupid enough to vote for Coleman, a Bush backer, instead of Franken, a great candidate and Obama supporter .

[scooterliberal]

Why the heck is this taking so long? Just count the damn things already! Cripes, I could have counted them all by myself by now.

[Querent]

I don't know why Al would agree to any kind of deal with Coleman the slime ball. Looks like a bad idea to me.

[bygollymissmolly]

He really has no choice. The court demanded that Coleman, Franken and the Secretary of State all come up with a method of counting the absentee ballots. It is my understanding that if either Coleman or Franken want a ballot tossed, they have to give the reason for it. Since there are only four reasons for tossing an absentee ballot, and the 5th pile have been found to not be one of the four reasons, Coleman is going to have a very hard time objecting to a ballot being counted just because it comes from a heavily Democratic district. I'm thinking that the objections will be published and Coleman really doesn't want the public to know he's trying to game the system.

These absentee ballots are still sealed so neither Coleman nor Franken will know what the vote is. I'm hoping that Al keeps it honest and doesn't try to game the system the same way Coleman will. So far, I think that Al has been very fair and diligent that every legal vote be counted.

[GrouchoMarxist]

Were the Lizard People consulted about this deal?

[bygollymissmolly]

You make it sound like there was a person called "Lizard People" who voted. That only shows your ignorance. The "Lizard People" was a write in vote that was not counted.