After weeks of recounting and canvassing, Al Franken has a 49 vote lead in the Minnesota Senate race. There are still absentee ballots being counted (the ones which were incorrectly rejected), although that process is itself quite complicated as all sides have to agree on which ballots to count. But, from the level of hysteria emanating from the GOP side, it's pretty clear that they know Norm Coleman's Senate career is winding down:
From Hastings to Washington, the battle over Minnesota's heated U.S. Senate race raged Tuesday, as Democrats edged closer to declaring victory for Al Franken and campaign lawyers sparred over counting hundreds of rejected absentee ballots at meetings across the state.Those "legal issues" may take a while to settle. Norm Coleman and the Republicans are threatening lawsuits. Lots of lawsuits. They're quite willing to go to court to try to overturn the will of the voters. That's classic GOP strategy. It's what got us George Bush in 2000. Coleman is even being advised by GOP attorney Ben Ginsberg, who was Bush's lawyer during the Florida debacle in 2000. But, over the past few weeks, we've seen that Minnesota in 2008 isn't Florida of 2000. The voters might actually get to decide this one.
"At this stage, it appears that Franken will be certified the winner by the state Canvassing Board," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We're keeping abreast of the situation and will make a decision with regard to Senate action at the appropriate point in the process."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., went further, saying that if the Canvassing Board declares a winner on Monday, the Senate should "consider seating that person pending litigation."
That brought a sharp retort from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who suggested the GOP will try to block any effort by Democrats to seat Franken before all legal issues in the recount are settled.
