Marc Elias. Photo: MnIndy

Marc Elias. Photo: MnIndy

Al Franken’s attorney, Marc Elias, hailed a ruling today by the three-judge panel in Minnesota’s Senate election trial to count 24 (and possibly 25) rejected absentee ballots. Elias said he was glad to see people enfranchised, but also praised the judges “because of the careful method [they used] in analyzing these ballots.”

Such care — as shown by the judges’ plucking 25 ballots from a pool of 61 belonging to people who sought court action to have their votes counted — is another “data point,” Elias said, that indicates how the panel will approach the 4,800 rejected absentee ballots they say they may examine. And he expected that the court would look favorably upon more of the 61 once the voters provided requested information.

Their careful selection suggest to Elias that the court is hewing closer to Franken’s ballot-by-ballot approach than ruling on whole categories of similarly rejected ballots as Norm Coleman’s attorneys prefer.

Is it spin? Sure — but to hear Elias tell it, the masters of that art are on the Coleman side. What did he think about Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg’s observation that the U.S. Senate passed a stimulus bill without Franken — in apparent contradiction to remarks Elias made to the state Supreme Court about the bill’s possible failure due to Franken’s absence? “Ben Ginsberg is a very good lawyer brought in to spin,” Elias said. “I have a lot of respect for his ability to turn a phrase and say things like that.”

Asked in a conference call with reporters what he would have done differently, Elias responded: “Pack more winter clothes.”