One more senatorial situation, Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minne), 7 weeks later, after the certification in voting was announced today by the Minnesota Canvassing Board, has lost to Al Franken, the “Saturday Night Live” funny man. But it is not over yet according to Coleman. For 62 days 3 million ballots were hand counted and inspected and Franken says “it leaves me not only humble but proud because the margin was so close to his being the next Minnesota Senator. “ Franken, not joking or projecting the usual sarcasm said that “the challenge he hopes has made the country grow”.
“We have a lot of important work to do. I am ready to go to Washington and get the country moving in the right direction. Our economy is the worst since the Great Depression. The situation in the Middle East is ready to explode (referring to the Israeli and Hamas fighting).” Franken hopes to provide the residents of Minnesota with continued great services without interruption and mentions the task now is to get the middle class working again.
Meantime, the Republican Governor will not sign off on the Canvassing Board’s results. In addition to this, the Republican Senatorial leader says that they will not accept Franken when the senate rejoins on Tuesday, until all of Coleman’s Supreme Court motions have been answered. The Coleman campaign attornies. Fritz Knaak and Tony Trimble, say they still have 700 absentee ballots and 133 ballots before the courts and believe that 133 ballots were double counted on Franken’s behalf. Legal experts say that Coleman would be pulling a rabbit out of a hat if Coleman believes he can counter Franken’s success. It is still up for scrutiny whether or not this week, Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie will co-sign the certification. Republican insiders say the keys have to be handed over first. Today Monday, the offices were closed. According to the Huffington Report, Franken has 1,212,431 votes to Sen. Norm Coleman's 1,212,206 votes, a 0.0077 percent margin of victory. Marc Elias, Franken's lead recount attorney, announced that Franken won by 225 votes.
If all of the disclosures of Coleman are weighted on and reviewed the results may take months to resolve. So this too is a stay tuned senatorial situation . . .
Peace out, Minerva
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