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

[bygollymissmolly]

I don't understand how that is a deal. Isn't that what the Supreme Court said they have to do?

I hope they follow through with the plan to have a record of why one of them says a ballot shouldn't be counted and I hope that the local newspaper posts a photo of the ballot envelope and the reason why it was found to belong in one of the 4 reasons to reject the ballot. I want to see Coleman with a lot of egg on his face.

[Grunty1]

Coleman is already wearing the entire chicken coop because he hasn't conceded yet.

[alicetilden]

I can't wait until I can say, Senator Al Franken. It truly is going to be a new country, at least while Obama is in office. 8 more years!!!!!!

[poco767c]

So Franken is ahead and the votes left are only counted if both sides agree. Shrewd move Coleman.

[arvada]

Haha

[OrbitOfOurOwn]

Cole.man spends his money on clothes and teeth - not education or lawyers.

[FreedomAgain]

I guess it all depends on the absentee ballots, I wonder if they lean republican or democrat. I still wouldn't rule out some GOP manipulation at the last minute. I hope those ballots are under a constant video surveillance.

[golferman]

They lean democrat. So this should be over. Off to the courts we go.

[tcuoohjohn]

The Coleman camp vigorously opposed the inclusion of the absentee ballots when they were ahead. Now they are behind and the Coleman camp now wants the absentee ballots included in the tally. Sounds like desperation to me.

Coleman knows he has lost. Now he just wants to toss up alot of smokescreens to mask the defeat.

[ronito6]

Democratic this year

[zest]

Yeah! Franken Wins! America Wins!

[amorosotom]

The rain falls on the just as well as the unjust. Even though the right wing jerks scream and holler, they will benefit from the kind new senator.

[NotMcCain]

This seems likely to work in Franken's favor.

[TrooAmerican]

anything disputed done in a transparent even-handed and fair way will normally work to the democratic advantage.

[john85msy]

Yep!

[Microstation7]

Accept the miracle votes the find in the trunk of some democrats car.
What a joke democrats are .

[whitewaterwillie]

This race will be eventually decided by the courts. Bottom line is that if the courts allow all the votes to be counted then Franken wins, if they are not counted then Coleman wins.

[annied]

Please! Keep going until you count every vote. I still believe that Al Gore actually won in 2000 and he was cowed into conceding. This is America. The person with the most votes should hold the office.

[BadgersBite]

You mean electoral college votes don't you?

[1will]

Sorry, Al lost in 2000. Even if you don't like the Supreme Court decision it is still common knowledge that Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and several newspapers paid to have the ballots counted in the weeks after the election. Al Gore still lost. Of course the Gore campaign only wanted the ballots counted in 5 historicaly Democratic leaning districts. They were uninterested in counting uncounted ballots in districts that historicaly leaned towards the Right or even a statewide recount.

[golferman]

That's not true but who cares. Gore sure didn't.

[Racetracker]

Actually, a later, more comprehensive study by a consortium of newspapers found that Gore would have won the recount.
http://www.bushwatch.org/gorebush.htm
Who do you think the RATS plus one would select in Minnesota, given the chance?
(RATS = Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia)

[dnegri]

You forgot to mention the irony: if all districts had been recounted, Gore would have won.

[jsgaetano]

It's amazing how every single time, throughout the entire nation, Republicans will always fight recounts or legislation protecting against vote fraud. Every single time.

Republicans truly do hate us for our freedoms, and greater enemies of democracy cannout be found.

[bygollymissmolly]

I think you mean election fraud not vote fraud. Voter fraud is the mantra of the right.

[You]

That's true. There has actually been a documented instance of Voter Fraud: Ann Coulter in Florida.

[FreedomCorpse]

supreme courts have done enough damage to America, count em.

[JayDDrew]

If I were an elected official and I couldn't win my re-election easily, I would think I probably didn't do a very good job.
Mr. Coleman, 49.99-50.0­1 per cent of the people you represent don't want you to represent them any longer. And there's a good chance of the other 49.99-50.0­1 per cent, if the candidate you're running against were different, another few percent would have voted against you, too.
Get the message?

[also there also]

Dead on point, JayDDrew. If incumbent Coleman goes down to the wire against a mediocre comedian with no prior political experience, there is a message there that even if he ultimately eeks out a victory, he needs to heed.

[lj9283]

This plan they've submitted for review by the Minnesota Supreme Court, is the plan that the court required them to submit by December 31, 2008. The court required both campaigns to agree uniform standard for identifying and counting the contested absentee ballots.

[LeeCalif]

Count them, regardless.

[widollar]

These two egomaniacs should not be allowed to make up their rules! They are only canidates for the Senate seat and not lawmakers for their state for this matter. Get a grip, but hopefully Franken will win the prize! Coleman is far too corrupt.

[bgfsh]

Could Coleman possibly take Michelle Bachman with him? Just a thought.

[myangeldog1]

Ugh....I wish....th­at woman is a fruitloop.