Wolf Blitzer: And very quickly, Amy, who’s going to be the next senator from Minnesota, the incumbent Norm Coleman, or the challenger, Al Franken?
Amy Walter: Well, the canvassing board meets Monday and it looks like they’re going to say that Al Franken has won this election, it’s something like 225-vote lead. The Coleman campaign’s saying we’re going to go and take this to court. But in looking at some of the analysis that folks have done, it’s going to be very hard for Norm Coleman to overturn this and indeed, we may have now the 59th Democrat Senator, assuming that in Illinois there is a Democratic Senator.
But its not just Walter, local pundit Larry Jacobs is also down on Coleman’s prospects. Here’s what Jacobs said this morning on WCCO:
LARRY JACOBS: Well, I think that’s the key question. And I think, you know, you look at those 654 votes, absentee ballots that the Coleman campaign is asking to be counted, remember, these are ballots that the county officials, the auditors who are not political, have already ruled should not be included. So what effectively the Coleman campaign is going to be asking is the court to say, hey, the process we set up didn’t work, we were wrong and we should therefore overturn this process and start another process. I don’t think that is very likely and I think the fact the Supreme Court did not rule already is a sign that they have some real doubts about whether they’re going to buy that argument.
ESME MURPHY: Let’s just say Coleman gets it, those 655 votes, mathematically there is a problem, isn’t there.
LARRY JACOBS: Well, the key word here is net. In other words, Coleman needs to be winning 225 more votes than Al Franken. So you start going though, where would they get those 225 votes? Would they pick them up in that 654? I don’t know, I think that is unlikely. It is unlikely whether they are going to be all included, but then you go to the missing Minneapolis ballots, maybe they net 50 there, but of course, remember the Franken campaign has a lot of votes that they say they want included and whatever process is set up by the Minnesota courts would have to allow the Franken campaign to bring probably 400 or 500 of their own absentee ballots as well as other issues that they want to bring forward, so how you get above the 225, it is a daunting prospect and again, money. This is costing money. The lawyers are all charging and they are already probably up about $4 or $5 million between both campaigns. Can the Coleman campaign continue to fund raise on this? Big question.
Finally, take a look at this article from Politico, which suggests that even if Coleman gets his way in court, it might not be enough to win:
The results of the additional absentee ballots give the Franken campaign continued momentum and make it more difficult for Coleman’s campaign to overturn the results in a post-recount challenge. The 225-vote margin is more than many observers expected Franken to have at this stage.
Indeed, even if some of the Coleman campaign claims regarding double-counted ballots and missing ballots were resolved in their favor, Coleman still would likely be trailing Franken.
As someone once said, its “time for the healing process to begin.”
I hope MN progressives (and the whole DFL) start publicly pushing Coleman to drop out, now and urging the Senate to seat Franken. They should demonstrate outside Coleman’s office, Pawlenty’s office, etc. They need to contact Sen. Klobuchar and make sure she gets Harry Reid to work as hard to seat Franken as he is working to NOT seat Roland Burris. Also, contact Obama and get him to pressure Reid, too. Face it: With the GOP threatening to derail the stimulus and hold up Eric Holder’s confirmation, we will need every senate vote we can get. We need Franken and he needs to start showing MN that he can do the job!
Senator Franken - what a nice ring.
Time to let the healing begin…
Here’s hoping the rest of the world is as open to ignoring Franken’s writings and his characterizations of different cultures as the Minnesota DFL — if not Senator Franken may prove to be one of the weakest senators in US history especially when it comes to foreign policy..
D.O.
Your concern is duly noted.
Demure One, Why on earth would the rest of the world, 1.) be overly concerned by one freshman U.S. Senator and 2.) judge him by your standards? I have read what Franken has written and the world is just as apt to see that the way I do as the way you do. If it even cares!
This is not that big a deal. The rest of the world is going to be watching President Obama and all indications point to it liking what it sees…
No one watched a freshman Senator Coleman. Why would they watch a freshman Senator Franken? Oh, wait, that’s right. He’s a Democrat.
Don’t seat Franken until he has been certified as the winner. This process has been very fair and very transparent, and if you jump the gun and seat Franken before it is officially over then you are going to give Republicans a reason to complain that it was unfair. The Democrats have a solid majority but not enough seats to stop a filibuster, and Franken won’t make a difference.
Demure One, Franken’s writings were only relevant to his electability. Now that he appears to have been elected, no one gives a crap anymore. I was not happy when Franken was the candidate (because I didn’t think he would win) but I got over it. Quit sulking, you big baby.
Dan - I agree with your sentiment, but I think you should go read Nate Silver today. We need all Dem. Senators seated ASAP. Burris too, blecch.
BREAKING: MN Supreme Crt denies Coleman’s request to review 654 absentee ballots #mnrecount
http://theuptake.com/
Oh Lord, let the healing begin! Say hallelujah!!!
The court has denied Coleman’s request. It is Senator Franken, the winner.
I’m ready to look forward. Let’s get past this and get on with things. I hope Senator Franken, (aka to the rest of the country “that guy from Saturday Night Live”, I’ve found in my recent travels), does a good job for all Minnesotans. I didn’t vote for him, I will probably be critical of many of his positions, and there is a 50/50 chance I’ll actively campaign and contribute for his competitor in 2014 (based on how he does between now and then). But for now, he is my Senator and I’ll wish him the best.
If I could say a prayer for Senator Franken, I would pray that he goes to DC with the humility of a Freshman Senator and not of a celebrity, and that the public and media gives him a chance to prove himself as a public servant and not treat him of a partisan author and talk show host. It is only fair to Minnesotans for Franken to be allowed to attempt to be our junior Senator.
dtm….very nice post, and I couldn’t agree more. Also, for those wishing voters would demonstrate outside Coleman’s office, he doesn’t have one. He is without a job as we speak, although I look for him to become some kind of consultant as I believe he can’t be a lobbyist for at least 1 year (I could be wrong about this). I think the stuffy Senate could use both some freshman humility as well as some well timed humor from Senator Franken.
It’s over. Congrats are in order.
DO
When you say one of the weakest Senators in US history, do you mean even as weak as Dayton, another great senatorial pick by the great state of MN?
You know, maybe we should hope for a 60 vote margin in the Senate. They’ve secured everything else, and we may as well sit back and watch em F-it up. By the way, how can there be 25 precints with more votes than voters?
how can there be 25 precints with more votes than voters?
Easy. Its not true.