Ruling further diminishes Coleman’s election contest prospects

Do you agree that the republican candidate now should quit , to save the time and expense of further legal challenges? And also that the State can have representation in the Senate, long overdue.

This is really excellent news and I have only two words now to say before the (soon to be ex-) Senator packs-up his desk and leaves Washington – “George Galloway”. Bye Norm!

We want this to end! Norm your a crook and we need someone that isn’t on the take. We need a government that is not for the crooks! Bow out please. Let us change what has created this mess. Your part of the mess. When you leave we can sweep up the trash and put it where it belongs! Landfill! Go please!

Get used to it, Minnesota.
Coleman and the Republicans will drag this out till the cows come home… and then some.
The longer they drag it out, the fewer things that can get done to improve the economy and the less that Obama can do.
They not only want Obama to fail, they want America to go down the tubes.
Thanks George.
Thanks Dick.
Thanks Karl, and
Thanks Ron Coleman.
Your plan is working, America is falling apart.
A useless war in Iraq, No more Big Three automakers, our jobs going overseas, …
Thanks.

No surprise here. The Court predictably applied the standard that was discussed prior to the end of the testimony by the Coleman and Franken teams. Ginsberg, Friedberg and Knaak have no choice but to whine and sleaze their way through the appeal process.

In order for the Minnesota Supreme Court to overturn what the three-judge panel has found, they must conclude as a majority that both the Canvassing Board and the three judges erred, that they failed to consider the evidence and they incorrectly applied the law to their findings. How many intelligent adults sincerely believe that this will really happen? Not bloody likely.

I didn’t notice Coleman too upset about disinfrancising voters when he was leading in count. Give it up Norm: remember what you said hours after the polls closed and you thought you were leading in the count. I guess what is good for the goose isn’t good for the gander, huh former US Senator Coleman? Don’t count on my vote ever again you sore loser and hypocrite.

[...] MI story here [...]

If you read the courts ruling. They went through the whole election process. Then they loooked at all the testimony & absentee ballots. There is no grounds for appeal. After they count the valid ballots. There is going to be less than 400. Senator Al Franken will be seated.

Coleman has decided whatever political future he has lies within the Republican power structure. He can’t quit until he loses or they let him quit. Pawlenty on the other hand has an interesting delimina, to sign or not to sign. As a Minnesotan patience has been deserved through the recount and appeal. Minnesota public opinion will devestate the GOP if they play politics with the seat. How stupid is the republican leadership to announce that the seat could take years to settle? How do you think it would play in Texas if a MN senator unapologetically announced they would play politics with their senate seat and deprive a duly elected person a seat. Pawlenty either signs because its the right thing to do after Franken won a recount, a court challenge and a refusal to be heard by the MN supreme Court. Or the MSC orders Pawlenty to sign. If Pawlenty continues to hold out then the Senate seats Franken anyways. Any appeal is a joke and has no chance of winning. All joking aside think about what Coleman is asking. Every decision must be exact with no use of judgement. How could any future close election be decided by that standard. On top of that they are asking the judges to use loose standards in which ballots to consider at the same time tney want election officials maintain impossibly tight standards. Perhaps eight years ago in Florida this argument might have worked but I doubt there is a court in the federal system eager to follow that logic.

Most of the articles that have been written about this ruling imply that Coleman’s chances have diminished, yet can anyone explain why and how the Judges determined 400 ballots would be reviewed ?
According to AP, 150 ballots came from Franken’s desired spreadsheet, 125 from Coleman’s, 50 were on both candidates’ lists and the remainder was on neither’s spreadsheets.
During the closing oral arguments, Coleman’s attorney Joe Friedberg conceded 252 ballots on Franken’s spreadsheet should be counted while Franken’s attorney alleged that only 6 ballots met the requirements on Coleman’s spreadsheet. Therefore, Franken should have had at least 200 (150 from his list and 50 where both agreed) so he has lost 52 potential votes. Further, Coleman would seem to have a lot of ballots that the Judges wish to review. So, why did Franken lose and Coleman gain ? Admittedly, just because the Judges asked to see the ballots doesn’t get them counted, but the fact that they discounted Franken’s group is surprising. On the other hand, by visually reviewing so many of Coleman’s group, they are giving his alligations strong consideration.

Lest not to forget that the Court has not ruled on the missing Mpls. ballots or the double-counting questions.

Tallying it all up, I still don’t see a mathematical way that Coleman can change the outcome … but Coleman has known that for a long time … hence his argument on Equal Protection. To use a sports analogy and paying homage to the Minnesota Gophers and the NCAA Final Four, now that the games have been played and the outcome determined, complain that a player was ineligible due to academic problems … that’s Coleman’s only hope … the votes really don’t matter, the election is just a game that it doesn’t matter how you win it.

The House race in New York (without absentees) is down to a 25 vote margin. Looks like there might be more work for election lawyers. Right now the Democrat Murphy is up.

Coleman tried to get Franken to concede even before the first votes after the election were counted. Franken rightfully waited for the automatically-triggered recount. The recount gave the election to Franken. Since then, Coleman has done nothing but tie up Minnesota’s Senate seat, thereby denying Minnesota half of its representation in the U.S. Senate.

Minnesota is pretty much the gold standard for how elections should be run in the United States. At what point is the legal system in Minnesota going to come to the proper conclusion that it is no longer proper to allow one person’s use of the court system to trump all of Minnesota’s right to representation?

Coleman is abusing the courts in order to interfere with the democratic process.

[...] Franken.  Although the court case is not over, last week’s court decision (http://minnesotaindependent.com/30731/coleman-ruling-order-franken) means that Al will win this Senate [...]