During the Saturday morning press conference at which Al Franken’s campaign projected a victory in Minnesota’s protracted Senate contest by at least 35 votes, I thought I heard recount attorney Marc Elias say that Franken himself would speak publicly about the race next Tuesday. But a statement the Franken campaign issued afterward put less specific words in Elias’ mouth:

On Tuesday, I will stand before you with that work completed. Al Franken will have a lead of between 35 and 50 votes. And, at some point not too long after that, Al Franken will stand before you as the Senator-Elect from Minnesota.

Whenever it comes, an appearance or comment by Franken — rare since Election Day — suggests the campaign is preparing to put the candidate’s reputation on the line to get a message across. That could mean we will hear Franken declare at least a measure of victory, in what the campaign would surely see as a kind of coda to Coleman’s early declarations of victory in November. Or short of that, having Franken say something, anything, would add gravitas to or grab attention for what they have to say.

By next Tuesday the drama-driven media will likely turn its focus toward what Franken folks consider a dead-end but possibly distracting sideshow: the duplicate-ballot conflict that U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign brought to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Friday afternoon. (A hearing on Coleman’s request for an emergency temporary restraining order is set for Tuesday afternoon.) The right words from Franken, who after all is a writer and public speaker by profession, could help put the spotlight where his campaign wants it to stay.