Franken, If Up In Votes, Should Be Seated Before Legal Battles End: Klobuchar

With concern rising in Minnesota that the state could be without a Senator for the crucial early months of the next Congress, Sen. Amy Klobuchar weighed in with a significant proposal this weekend: seat the unofficial winner until all legal challenges are finalized.

"If the Canvassing Board declares a winner, that should be our senator," said the Minnesota Democrat. Even if a court challenge were to follow, she added, "[The Senate] could seat a senator pending the litigation."

Should Klobuchar's vision bear out, it would likely result in Al Franken taking over the Senate seat on a temporary basis. Democrats would get a 59th caucus member and a potentially important vote on key legislative matters.

The Minnesota canvassing board is set to certify the vote total from the election sometime in early January (a date is not yet official). As it stands know, Franken should emerge ahead in the count by a scant 47 votes. Sen. Norm Coleman would then have seven days to challenge the board's conclusion, a course of action his campaign has said it will almost certainly pursue.

The legal gridlock that would ensue could mean that there is no official Senate winner for weeks, if not much longer. Thirty-four years ago in New Hampshire, a similar situation took place, and the state was short a representative in the Senate for ten months.

At this point, there seems to be little political will from the Governor's office to resolve the problem. Republican Tim Pawlenty's office has said he only has the authority to appoint a replacement in the case of a permanent vacancy. So Klobuchar's statement, reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, carries particular weight.

There is, moreover, historical precedent for seating Franken on a temporary basis. In 1996, Mary Landrieu won the Louisiana Senate seat in a hotly contested race. But her opponent, State Representative Woody Jenkins, alleged that massive election fraud had contributed to his defeat. The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate agreed to look into the charges but allowed Landrieu to serve in the interim, pending investigation. The Rules Committee ultimately discovered that Jenkins had coached and paid witnesses to testify, thus discrediting his complaints of corruption and securing Landrieu's place in the Senate.

Comments

[fiorastar]

Seat Franken. He won. Let Coleman do what he wants in the courts later.

[zippy the cow]

No, all the 'conservatives' told me that franken was super litigous, whiny sore loser! Surely Coleman isn't like that and won't be filing any lawsuits.

[LeeCalif]

That's right smart of Senator Klobuchar.

[Kartoffel]

Republican leading = "The counting must continue!! "

Democrat leading = "The counting must be stopped immediately!! "

[Mosby007]

They are not saying that the count should be stopped. Just that once the count is finalized, that the winner should be seated while any pending litigation occurs. This would ensure that Minn. would have all of its Senators present when the next session starts in Jan.

Did you even read the article???

[dphilip]

Hold on........­...we republican need more time so we can search our closets, trunks and kitchen drawers to see if we can "find" more votes too now!

[greeniefromOH]

Interesting you should say that. Apparently you have no recollection of the year 2000.

[greeniefromOH]

Oh, wait. Sorry. I misread your comment. In my defense, I am tired today. :)

[zippy the cow]

Democrat leading = "The counting must continue!! "

Republican leading = "The counting must be stopped immediately!! "

[bygollymissmolly]

Oh really, when did Franken ask to have the counting stopped? We must have all missed it. The only suit that Franken filed was to get the mistakenly disallowed Absentee ballots counted. Al Franken is all about getting every legal vote counted. Coleman is all about stopping the vote counting while he is still ahead.

[GQB]

Huh? You must have been born since 2000 (which makes sense because your comment sounds like an 8-year old's.

[GQB]

... and I apparently read like an 8-year old. Get your point.
doh.

[sepblues]

Oy,Oy,Oy! Enough. Senator-elect Franken should have won by 47,000 votes-but I'll take the 47. As they say, a W is a W.

[rigormrtis]

The last thing we need in DC is another "W".

[Phalanxman]

Elections and law suits and two different things. One is conducted by the executive branch, the other conducted by the judicial. So when the MN elections board finally "certifies" a winner, the "election" will be done, and the one with the most votes will be declared the winner. That will clear the way for law suits to be filed challenging the election results. But to stop the election winner from being seated, the loser will probably have to seek an injunction in the courts -- just one of the lawsuits you can look forward to. Unfortunately, this will play out to its bitter end, and consume a good deal of public resources in the process.

[Rmtns]

Hear, hear!

[MuchMadness]

No. no more wasting taxpayer money. In the real world, if workers can't get their jobs done, they get fired. Count the votes, count them right, and count them quick. That's it. Time for the people to stop accepting excuses and legal nonsense.

[MNmommy]

All but the challenges and wrongly disqualified absentee ballots were completed in a timely manner.

As stated below, if the Board certifies on January 2nd, there was only a 17 day delay.

[fiorastar]

It is that kind of thinking that allowed the 2000 election to be stolen from the American people and the world, and installed a criminally incompetent puppet to be used by Big Oil and the rest of Big Corporate to give a redistribution of wealth to the top in every sector. If EVERY vote had been counted--and every legal voter had been allowed to vote in the first place (caging lists removed hundreds of thousands of black voters as "potential felons" with only a common last name--not even allowing such normal things as birthdates to be used to confirm identity, ordered up by Katherine Harris and instigated by Karl Rove)--then there would have been no doubt that Al Gore was our President, and probably would have remained so in 2004, having NOT gotten us into two wars, having NOT circumvented the Constitution with the "Patriot Act" and signing statements, and having NOT destroyed hundreds of environmental regulations and protections.

It matters more that ALL votes are counted, correctly as intended, than that the process goes quickly.

THEN, we must all fight hard to get a standardized, PAPER ballot, instant runoff system set up nationwide.

[SurrealPumpkin]

legal nonsense?

[weatherwaxx]

They are following legal procedure. "Quick" and "Right" are not the same thing. Accuracy is not nonsense. This isn't a bloody football game, chum, it's the future of our country.

[rigormrtis]

uh, you mean non-union workers, right?

[bygollymissmolly]

The courts can't stop the Senate from seating the declared winner.

[AliLiz]

Count the votes now...winn­er becomes Senator...­issue is closed...l­et's get on with business at hand.

[AnnfromCA]

That's the idea. Which means.....­..nobody will be seated for awhile.

Welcome to the new age of rules upon rules upon rules, along with court challenges upon challenges upon challenges.

Frankly, I think they should draw straws. 47 votes?

Gimme a break. This is a tie.

[MNmommy]

The count is scheduled to be certified on January 2nd.

Do try to keep up, PUMAAnn.

[indc]

47=0 is what you say, you want to rethink this or you are in financial services

[fiorastar]

I'm sure if you counted all the disparities between voting ability in poor, non-white, and working class districts (mainly Democratic) and wealthy, likely Republican districts, there would be a much larger difference in votes in favor of Franken. Count EVERY vote!

[SurrealPumpkin]

Considering that races are won by .001 of a second 47 could be considered a landslide.

[Teas]

47 votes is not a tie. it means that 47 MORE people voted for Franken then Coleman. End of story, move on!

[Margo Arrowsmith]

Ok, someone has to ask...Who is going to be able to play Franken in the SNL skits? I know, they don't usually have that for mere Senators, but this won't be just any Senator.

[bugsbonzai]

An added bonus is that Franken can play himself. Unfortunately, he may not be convincing in the role.

[zippy the cow]

In an unusual twist, Stuart Smalley has auditioned for the role.

[cadawa]

Absolutely Franken should be seated. The only reason Coleman and GOPs are still fighting to prevent the inevitable for as long as possible.

[lornejl]

How are those collapsing bridges working out for you right wing Coleman voters ?

[zippy the cow]

The bridge must have been sabotaged by Liberal Democrats to draw attention from the fact thAt THE SURGE WORKED!!

[haval2]

Congratulations Senator Franken.

[girlwild]

Whoever wins and is declared the winner should be seated. Let the court challenges continue to play out. Make changes as appropriate.

[lornejl]

What is this court thing that you speak of ? Rule of law, distributors of justice ? They haven't been heard from for quite some time. Do they still exist in a meaningful way ?

[mlaiuppa]

Seat Franken.

[TheWanderer]

I heard that John McCain has suspended his campaign and gone to Minnesota to help resolve this crisis.

[serindipity803]

LOL

[zippy the cow]

John McCain has put his Barbecue Transition Team on alert.

[BWonka]

He has Franken right where he wants him - seated in the Senate with him!! Bwahahaha

[SinisterK9]

The only person who should sit in the seat is the official winner. When they get their %&$! together and decide who won (officially), then put the winner in office. Otherwise, carry on.

[AnnfromCA]

I agree.

[MNmommy]

Who exactly, are you implying, doesn't have their %&$! together?

Have you been paying close attention to the proceedings, or is your impression colored by the MSM musings?

If you are referring to Coleman and his frivolous time consuming, tax dollar costing law suits, well then we are in agreement.

[MuchMadness]

The state of Minnesota does not seem to have its act together when it comes to counting votes and certifying results. It should not take two months to count the votes. MN needs to just get 'er done.

[serindipity803]

I don't agree- Franken won, and the seat needs to be filled from Day 1. Coleman's efforts will not bring him any closer to being seated - he lost. He is misusing the court system to stay out of jail

[SinisterK9]

If he officially won, then we wouldn't be having this discussion, nor would there be an article about it right now. He has not officially won yet. Let the system work itself out, no matter how screwed up it is.

[iwantpie]

"He is misusing the court system to stay out of jail"

LMAO

[SPQR1775]

Coleman won on the first ballot??? Not so sure about your so called logic. If the votes actually got counted in America instead of been projected we would see even more democratic majority. Imagine had we went with the "first ballot" in Oregon or Alaska the GOP would have won. In America the people often takes the MSM projections for given, however in todays enlightened society where "A MORE PERFECT UNION" is key to our continued DEMOCRACY in deed and not just theory we will ensure a government for and by the people, instead of a FEDERALIST REPUBLIC which is what 9-11 POWER grab and rules by the GOP, Bush and Co was aimed to create by weakening the constitution and creating more executive power for a supreme president. PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE, this here is the SPQR, the Federal city of Washington DC is Rome, read early American History!