Posted on 03/17/2009 12:52:50 PM PDT by Caleb1411
A state court could rule any day now on Norm Coleman's challenge to Al Franken's 225-vote lead in Minnesota, but the race may be far from over no matter what the judges say.
Top Republicans are encouraging Coleman to be as litigious as possible and take his fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if he loses this round, believing that an elongated court fight is worth it if they can continue to deny Democrats the 59th Senate seat that Franken would represent.
And in pushing a possible Supreme Court conclusion, Republicans are raising case history that makes Democrats shudder: Bush v. Gore.
Coleman's team says the different methods Minnesota counties use for counting absentee ballots violated the Constitution's equal protection clause — echoing the same 2000 Florida recount case that effectively handed the presidency to George W. Bush. By making a constitutional case, Republicans are already looking ahead to federal court.
"The Supreme Court in 2000 said in Bush v. Gore that there is an equal protection element of making sure there is a uniform standard by which votes are counted or not counted, and I think that's a very serious concern in this instance," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "I'm not making any predictions, but I wouldn't be surprised" if it ended up in federal court.
Democrats believe Coleman is just running the clock, delaying the inevitable.
"He's lost the election. What he should do is save the people of Minnesota a lot of money and allow them to have a representative here," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Politico. "I mean, everybody knows that he's lost the election. Talk to anyone who's watched the proceedings the last week or two." Asked whether Franken should appeal if he loses, Reid smiled and said: "He won't lose."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Friday first blessed the idea of encouraging Coleman to take his fight into federal appeals court and potentially all the way up to the Supreme Court. On Monday, several top Republicans continued pushing the federal courts angle, which could delay the Minnesota Senate race for several more months.
"The state court is not the final word on that, because the question in federal court is whether the guarantee of equal protection under laws in the U.S. Constitution has been violated by an inconsistent policy with regard to counting ballots," said Judiciary Committee member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Sessions said he "absolutely" would encourage Coleman to take his fight to federal court if he loses.
"From what I can tell, there are legal issues well worth taking up in the (Supreme) Court," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "I think the whole Bush v. Gore — using the same standards to count votes is a big issue."
Democrats have expressed confidence that Franken would win, and the former comedian has repeatedly taken steps to prepare for a transition to the Senate. Reid has said Coleman will "never ever" serve in the Senate again, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Franken could be a U.S. senator as soon as April.
"At some point, Republican senators have to be concerned about Sen. McConnell using their resources for a losing cause in 2008, rather than defending incumbents in 2010," said Eric Schultz, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The question for Coleman — if he loses — is whether the encouragement from his Washington colleagues would backfire in Minnesota. With continued appeals, he risks angering Minnesota voters whose support he would need if he were to follow through on a rumored run for governor.
"Whoever the loser is, they're going to have to examine how good they think their case is, whether they would have a chance of winning, what it does to the state by not having a second senator, the costs involved, all that sort of thing," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the minority whip.
On Monday, rumors circulated that if Coleman loses, he'd be in line to replace the embattled Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee, but his campaign quickly sought to rebut the claim.
Tom Erickson, a spokesman for Coleman, said the former senator believes Steele is doing "an exceptional job, is a strong voice and leader for the party. And he looks forward to working with him to build the party when he returns to the United States Senate."
The actual ruling in the Coleman-Franken case may not be straightforward in declaring a winner. Following a seven-week trial, the judges are expected to issue a series of rulings based on arguments advanced by both sides. Either side could appeal to the three-judge panel or petition the state Supreme Court within 10 days of the ruling. And they also can choose to mount a battle in federal appeals court or eventually the U.S. Supreme Court.
Republicans are already trying to round up contributions to keep Coleman's legal fees from mounting, especially in the wake of an embarrassing episode in which Coleman donors' financial information might have been easily available to online users, forcing a shutdown of online contributions.
Coleman has raised $25 million for his Senate campaign, the subesquent recount and now the trial over the election results. (An earlier version of this story online today incorrectly indicated that $25 million was raised for just the post-election recount and trial proceedings.)
"I want to do all I can to help him," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who said he had maxed out his donations to Coleman.
"I'm sure he'll have the finances he needs to carry on this legal fight," said Sessions.
Ping
Al Franken as a US Senator would be a sure sign of the Apocalypse
But if the Democrats are not restrained from their fraudulent vote counting methods, then 2010 and 2012 will have even worse election fraud from the Democrats. We gotta stop 'em sometime or we are lost.
For sentient people, yes. For Minnesota liberals, it’d be business as usual.
Republicans showing signs of sufficient guts to fight this travesty at the highest judicial level: what’s not to like about that?
It takes 4 justices together to decide to hear a case.
So far, SCOTUS does not have 4 justices willing to even consider the legal question of Obama Hussein not being a natural citizen, let alone this one.
Wrong Dingy. Norm WON the election. He "lost" the recount due to conflicting standards, double counting, and a selective recount of absentee ballots. This, after ACORN had done their work to game the result with fraudulent registrations and a complicit State AG.
Our brains get frozen on occasion up here, but Minnesotans aren't THAT stupid.
Good. Both are RINOs. I would much rather see Coleman back in the Senate than Frankin.
All is lost now and has been for years. We are under communists rule and most just don't realize it.
NO! Coleman is all aboard the Al Gore religion of staving us of abundant cheap energy. Putting Norm in any Republican leadership position would be madness.
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On November 5th I told my boss (who admits he is so far left he has to look to the right to see the communists), with Coleman ahead in the count, that the fix was in. I stand by that.
I'm so sick of this blatant media lie, that the Supreme Court somehow "gave the presidency to Bush." EVERY re-re-recount went to Bush. The voters in Florida elected Bush. And every time a recount failed to win for Gore, despite the statutory deadlines and standards, the Democraps attempted to massage the votes again and again to produce the desired result, whether recounting questionable ballots in Democratic strongholds only, or trying to squelch the military overseas vote.
The current Minnesota fiasco is Bush v. Gore again - only the Democrats were allowed to go further this time and "find" enough votes to overturn Coleman's meager but decisive lead. In a liberal state like Minnesota, it was easier to do this than in much more conservative Florida. If it does go to the US Supreme Court, I'm sure it will make Bush v. Gore look like innocent child's play in comparison.
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