Franken leads +225 (+21 and +14 of the "Nauen61" the Elections Contest Court has ordered into the "Ready to Count" pile at the the Secretary of State's office; all these voters have indicated they voted for Franken)= +260.
No Election Contest Court (ECC) developments from the weekend. All is in suspense.
Some stories about the on-going, slow motion collapse of the Coleman campaign outside the courtroom.
So thats the speed edition from MN. Even past the Orange fold won't take you to the bottom of your coffee cup.....
The Minnesota Senate Recount is in the hands of the three judge panel of Hayden, Reilly and Marben. They have motions to decide, orders to write. They also have testimony of 134 witness to review, supported and contradicted by 2182 exhibits (mostly photocopies of ballot envelopes).
Both legal teams for Coleman and Franken have homework assignments due. By noon today Team Coleman has to turn in certain certifications from county officials or some of their evidence will be tossed. As with all things Colemanik look for this to arrive at the clerk's window (if at all) about 11:57am. Team Franken also has some stuff to turn in (affidavits I think) but its likely done already and will be beamed in a transporter beam as soon as the clerk's window opens around 9:00am.
Both sides have one major piece due by noon Tuesday BUT this may have been moved up to today. You see when the court will rule the decision will feature 2 major chunks: Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
Those are the 2 elements of any legal case: based on this evidence (the facts ...."The temperature was 4 below zero..." and certain inferences "....therefore the ice under the fishing shack was not melting from natural causes") we think this and this and this happened.
Therefore the law that applies here is (citations "...MN code xx.03" and precedents "....however, in Barons v. King John (Runnymeade, (1215); obviously Team Franken at work) the court held instead...."). Putting the 2 together, we the court decide the following .....
Both sides get to turn in a set of proposed Findings of Fact. Both sides get to help the court by saying on paper, "Look at these facts, these exhibits, this evidence because they are the important stuff." That of course IMPLIES the other stuff (like the stuff the other side brought in) is less important. I don't know (and the legal eagles around here will tell us) but each side may even been allowed to write up: "Here's the good stuff and why (OUR stuff) AND here's why the court should ignore, dismiss or downplay the other stuff (from the other side.)" In other words, one last chance to throw a tachyon grenade over the wall at the other side.
The Court will produce its own Findings and is likely already come up with a draft. But they'll look at both sets and decide whether they want to modify their own; you know, go with a 0.2 update, or a complete v. 2.0. or go with what they've got.
As in all things Recount related, we'll see.
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Yesterday I put up a little review and grade card for the lawyers in the case. Around the media everyone is scrounging around for something to write while we wait on the Court. Much of what turned up is about Norm Coleman. I know they say in Hollywood there's no such thing as bad publicity (just spell the name right) but I'm not so sure.
At MN Progressive Project BigE writes that Norm is THROUGH being a victim. Its been bad you know. He's changed his mind and his vote enough times that the Reichwing considers him a RINO, acceptable only because he's not a Democrat (and they wonder about that.) Yet the heartless press takes that as flip flopping. He gets pwned by Galloway as a witness which was SO unfair. And he really didn't WANT to run a nasty campaign but....
But all thats going to change. Yep! No more victim! Norm is movin' on.... to become a MARTYR! http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/...
And Norm's support staff are letting him down and its NOT his FAULT! Can Norm be blamed if he told donors whose credit card info was released to call him, and all they get is a recording?
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
Can Norm be blamed if not only credit card info was leaked but now cell phone numbers are in circulation too from the same database? (Although Wikileaks is starting to overplay their hand.)
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
Can Norm be blamed if agencies are looking into the credit card fiasco (Secret Service, MN Crime Bureau, St. Paul Police)? AND a computer expert has written the MN Attorney General asking for her to open an investigation? AND a law professor thinks retaining those 3 digit security codes from the back of a credit card really is a MAJOR CRIME?
http://www.twincities.com/...
Can Norm Coleman be blamed for ALL THAT??.............Yep.
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Oh and the senator-elect is in the news too. The Franken campaign (and to be fair, the Coleman campaign too, but Al started it) got a ruling from the Federal Elections Commission allowing him (and by extension Coleman) to fund-raise beyond the $2300 individual limit in order to pay for the Recount expenses, lawyers fees, court costs--- you know, his side of the whole show we've been enjoying (?) for the last 131 days since the election.
(Norm gets to do the same, but his website does not currently have a credit card option available. That could slow things down for him, ya think?)
Story here from the MN Independent:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
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So thats all thats happening as far as I can tell. We all wait upon the court. Yesterday's diary featured a great set of legal thoughts and casual betting as to how the court might rule, appeals to the MN Supreme Ct. (if they'll even agree to take the case), equal protection issues (damn hard to find), etc.
Hope this will hold you until news breaks from the Court. Thats the latest from yust southeast of Lake Wobegon.
Shalom.