ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 5, 2009
Franken Certified Winner Of Minn. Recount
Democrat Takes Slim Victory In Senate Recount But Rival Norm Coleman Vows Legal Challenge
-
Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken addresses supporters Democratic election night party while his race with Sen. Norm Coleman was too close to call Nov. 4, 2008 in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
-
State Fast Facts Minnesota Learn about the people, economy and geography.
The Canvassing Board's declaration started a seven-day clock for Coleman, the incumbent, to file a lawsuit protesting the result. His attorney Tony Trimble said the challenge will be filed within 24 hours. The challenge will keep Franken from getting the election certificate he needs to take the seat in Washington.
"This process isn't at an end," Trimble said. "It is now just at the beginning."
“Whether it is Florida or Minnesota, whether it is 2000 or 2009, it’s very hard to get the courts to overturn the certified results of the election, especially two months after the election when so many people have worked so hard to try to get accurate figures," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "So I think Coleman’s chances aren’t very good and won’t get much better the further up the appellate ladder he tries to go.”
Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" personality, ended the recount up by 225 votes, an astonishingly thin margin in a race where more than 2.9 million votes were cast.
"After 62 days of careful and painstaking hand-inspection of nearly 3 million ballots, after hours and hours of hard work by election officials and volunteers around the state, I am proud to stand before you as the next senator from Minnesota," Franken said Monday in brief remarks to reporters outside his downtown condominium.
Coleman's campaign said he would make an appearance Tuesday in Minnesota. He was in Washington on Monday.
The recount reversed the unofficial Election Day results, which showed Coleman with a 215-vote lead.
Franken made up the deficit over seven tortuous weeks of ballot-sifting in part by prevailing on challenges that both campaigns brought to thousands of ballots. He also did better than Coleman when election officials opened and counted more than 900 absentee ballots that had erroneously been disqualified on Election Day.
Coleman's lawyers have argued that some ballots were mishandled and others were wrongly excluded from the recount, giving Franken an unfair advantage. After a Minnesota Supreme Court decision went against Coleman earlier Monday — he had sought to add hundreds more rejected absentees from Republican-leaning areas — lead attorney Fritz Knaak said a lawsuit was inevitable.
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was careful to note Monday that the board was simply signing off on the numbers found by the recount: Franken, with 1,212,431 votes, and Coleman, with 1,212,206 votes.
"We're not doing anything today that declares winners or losers or anything to that effect," Ritchie said.
All five members of the canvassing board — Ritchie, plus two state Supreme Court justices and two Ramsey County judges — voted to accept the recount results.
A lawsuit would extend the fight over the seat for months. Any court case would open doors closed to the campaigns during the administrative recount. They would be able to access voter rolls, inspect machines and get testimony from election workers.
The case would fall to a three-judge panel picked by Chief Justice Eric Magnuson of the Supreme Court. Magnuson served on the Canvassing Board, but declined to say Monday if he would remove himself from the selection process as a result. Magnuson was an appointee of Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
The campaigns continued the political maneuvering that has marked the nearly two months of the recount.
Marc Elias, Franken's lead recount attorney, referred to his client as "Senator-elect Franken."
"Former Senator Coleman has to make a decision," Elias said. "And it is a profound decision, one that he has to look into his heart to make: Whether or not he wants to be the roadblock to the state moving forward and play the role of a spoiler or sore loser or whether he wants to accept what was a very close election."
"The race in Minnesota is over," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. He called the Republican efforts to continue challenging Franken's election "only a little finger pointing."
Trimble, meanwhile, said that irregularities in the recount mean there "can be no confidence" in the results. And he said Coleman didn't want any delay in filing a challenge.
Minnesota law doesn't allow the issuance of a final election certificate until legal challenges are settled, meaning the state will be represented only by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, when Congress convenes on Tuesday. Coleman's term expired Saturday.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From Politics
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 10
- next
See all 189 CommentsPosted by earache4
Moses has game. he would come up to the plate with people on base and wave his bat and tell the pitcher "let my people go" he was a great cleanup hitter.
Posted by earache4
Thanks.
So if you don''t like it too bad it is not your choice.
Good luck to you Mr. Franken, I still think you were funny on SNL though.
Posted by omega40
I agree. It was a bit of my witless sarcastic repartee. Sorry
Posted by mizzerz
She will never appeal to anyone more than a segment of what is quickly becoming a southern regional party. In the previous election even her mother in law and friends cast doubts on whether they would vote for her.
Posted by CarlyLaine
A cu m laude graduate of Harvard a moron? I guess when you call out rush hannity and Oreiley on their lies the rushbots will never forgive him. Good job Al
Posted by earache4
Palin was brought up too soon, so another couple of years in the minors will season her. Hagee was dumped because of a salary cap issue
Posted by earache4
They got palin and hagee as throwins though
Posted by hatesthecolt
I am afraid he will stretch it out too. But I was hoping he would do like john Ashcroft did in 2000, when he gave up his challenge for the best interest of Missouri
Posted by earache4
didn''''t moses play power forward for philadelphia
Posted by mizzerz at 09:30 AM
Yes he did, He also made the probowl for denver back in the 70''''s...
Posted by earache4
he was also a all star center fielder for the SF giants
Posted by mizzerz
That''s not a choice! Self interest is written into the Republican platform: in order to maintain his party status he has to drag this out as long as he possibly can and you know he will too!
Posted by coppertales
The Congress of clowns was the 107th, the 108th and 109th congresses. YOu know the ones that gave a blank check to Bush
Can not wait until the shrub nas been removed permanently and an actual professional takes over...!
Posted by earache4
didn''t moses play power forward for philadelphia
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 10
- next
See all 189 Comments