Coleman grasping at straws, now wants to open thousands of absentee ballots

[babylonsister]

Coleman wants to open thousands of absentee ballots
By Aaron Blake
Posted: 01/19/09 03:56 PM


Republican Norm Coleman’s lawyers on Monday called for the counting of thousands more absentee ballots in their quest to reverse Democrat Al Franken’s 225-vote lead in Minnesota’s Senate race.

Coleman has filed an election challenge following a statewide recount and has alleged that some ballots have been counted twice. Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak on Monday, though, sought to expand the challenge to a full review of 12,000 rejected absentee ballots.

About 1,350 of the ballots were initially added to the totals, which swung the race in Franken’s direction by about 175 votes. Coleman’s lawyers have unsuccessfully tried to get about 650 additional rejected absentee ballots included as well.

But on Monday, Knaak said Coleman’s team will seek to open all 12,000 rejected absentees.

The initial 650 ballots Coleman’s team wanted included were reported to be mostly from areas where Coleman did well, but they might not have been enough to reverse the result.

more...

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/coleman-wants-to-open-thousands-of-absentee-ballots-2009-01-19.html

[sakabatou]

1. Loser with a capital "L"

[grantcart]

2. He has to open them first to see if he wants them counted

[WI_DEM]

3. the courts will have to come in and settle this so that MN can have this senate

seat filled. Coleman will prolong this as long as he can even though he has to chance.

[Zookeeper]

4. Yeah. Coleman who stated after the election that Franken....

should spare Minnesotans the stress and expense of a (state-mandated) recount and just "admit" defeat. :eyes:

Coleman has enough ruthless ambition to keep these challenges going indefinitely, but the bigger picture, IMHO, is that he has the hard-core Rethugs invested in dragging this out, just to obstruct the Democrats as long as possible.

[babylonsister]

5. Must be infuriating for Franken, too. nt

[Zookeeper]

7. Fortunately, Franken is not one to back down.

I've always felt that challenging Coleman had a special significance for Franken, since Coleman was elected to the Senate only after (Franken's friend) Paul Wellstone was killed in a small plane crash just before that election. (I'm still wearing my tinfoil hat, BTW.)

If only Gore and Kerry had demonstrated the guts and determination of Franken! (*Sigh*)

[Deja Q]

6. Quite. He is such a but.

[Zookeeper]

8. OMG. Don't get me started on name-calling!

I'll just bite my tongue (fingers?) and add, "WEASEL."

[AndyTiedye]

9. He Can Drag This Out for Years, and Probably Will

[underpants]

10. Taibbi sums the entire thing up perfectly in "The Last Recount"

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/24603798/the_last_recount

[Zookeeper]

12. I missed that! Thanks for posting the link. n/t

[terisan]

11. Coleman is being strange.