Franken on top in Minn. recount; Coleman to sue

[onehandle]

Source: AP

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minnesota board on Monday certified results showing Democrat Al Franken winning the state's U.S. Senate recount over Republican Norm Coleman, whose lawyer promised a legal challenge that will keep the race in limbo for weeks. 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. Trimble said the process "is now just at the beginning."

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. 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.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090105/ap_on_el_se/minneso...

[BrotherBuzz]

1. Huzzah!

[Piewhacket]

21. eeeeeeeYESssssssss!!!!! Congratulations MN and AL

woo-hoo!

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota!

Finally, the 2008 election is OVER.

[earthlover]

42. it is NOT over until the courts rule, unfortunately....

[maxsolomon]

44. bush v. gore was specifically excluded from being a precedent

was it not?

given the current supreme court & their ignominious recent history, franken better fight like hell.

[Rhiannon12866]

54. The precedent is that whoever ahead when the vote is certified is the winner...

And that's Al!!!

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Let the Al Frankin decade begin!!! Billo"s head must be exploding

And the recount was

'DO IT LIVE' too! gratz Al!!!

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

22. Genuine Abe Lincoln Copper medallions for all

[DeepModem Mom]

4. K&R!!!

[No Elephants]

5. Didn't Coleman criticize Franken for not simply accepting the count gracefully? Then, why doesn't

Coleman simply accept the re-count gracefully?

[Dennis Donovan]

6. Because he's a Republicrite...

They have no shame...

[No Elephants]

7. Ooohhh. That is a new word for me. I like it.

[mac56]

36. "Republicrite." Brilliant.

Because Republicans are less troubled by hypocrisy than normal people are.

[calimary]

55. LIKE that one!

It does speak directly to what's in their cold, shriveled "hearts."

[paulkienitz]

27. because he's a lawyer -- the kind lawyer jokes were invented for (nt)

[No Elephants]

32. You mean, the kind who can't read the Constitution, like Gonzo?

[stray cat]

47. Does Coleman still want to save the taxpayers money.....

Coleman urged Franken to waive his right to a recount, saying that the prospect of changing the result was remote and that a recount would be costly to taxpayers (about $86,000).

"I just think the need for the healing process is so important. ... hopefully, you don't have TV ads during an election recount," Coleman said.

Staff writer Paul Walsh and the Associated Press contributed to this report. [e-mail] 612-673-4455 [e-mail] 612-673-4767 [e-mail] 612-673-7102

[David__77]

8. A win by 0.008%...wow.

Glad it's him on top. I think the media were unfair to Franken during the campaign, always playing up the "comedian" bit. I do think it hurt him among the more dour Minnesotans.

[kenfrequed]

10. Yes

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer would have beat Coleman by a much larger margin.

[Thor_MN]

43. Who? I was delegate, met the DFL candidates and my response is still Who?

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer may be the greatest person in the world, but from what I saw of him there would be no way to tell. He made Norwegian cooking look like buckets of habanero hot sauce. I was in a boredom coma from his third word. One of his unofficial slogans was "You don't know Jack!!!" It was very accurate, because I found him too boring to possibly know anything about him.

As I said, he may have been the perfect person to perform the job of Senator, but he would have been trounced if he had gotten the nomination.

[kenfrequed]

51. Feh

And did you manage to watch most of the actual debates? If you had you would have known Jack. Honestly outside of that convention Franken stammered, stuttered, and babbled. He did not bring on the funny that should have helped him, nor the expertiese that I would have thought needed.

I was very excited about him three years ago, but got less excited the more I heard. I am seriously annoyed that a delegate would not make at least a token effort to do the slightest bit of research on the candidates available and instead just meander along with the 'popular choice.' Why even bother being a delegate if you arent going to exercise that position.

[Thor_MN]

62. My, you have analyzed my psyche to a T.

I submit that you do not know Jack about me, what I know about the candidates or how the primary caucuses work. You do understand that a delegate goes to the convention not to willy nilly pick whatever candidate is their personal choice, don't you? They are there to represent their precinct and do their best to sway the outcome to the PRECINCT's choice. If you want to denigrate someone, you will have to take offense at my entire precinct. One should not get seriously annoyed at what a delegate does when one apparently does not know know what a delegate's duties are.

In my previous post, I expressed my opinion on the electabilty of your hero, which has absolutely no connection with what happened on convention day. My responsibility at the convention was set on primary night and had only one small fraction involved with my personal choice. While there certainly exist faithless delegates who present one view to their precinct in order to become a delegate and then dishonorably renege to represent their personal choice at the convention, I chose to faithfully represent my precinct's decision, of which you still have no clue how I acted. Perhaps you hold a different view on that, but then that would involve your dishonor if you were a delegate.

I suggest that you maybe learn a little bit about the process and how it is supposed to work before getting annoyed that I personally feel that your choice was an unelectable cypher. You may want to become a delegate yourself in the next primary, however, unless you are unable to let your personal biases go in order to represent your precinct's conscious, perhaps your precinct might not want to choose you.

[No Elephants]

34. Al is a comedian. Coleman is a joke-a bad joke. Only one of those things requires a brain.

[kenfrequed]

9. Excellent.

But expect a huge blast from the great right wing crap-litzer.

[DainBramaged]

11. Minn. board gives Senate win to Franken

Source: USA TODAY

A Minnesota board on Monday certified results showing Democrat Al Franken winning the state's U.S. Senate recount over Republican Norm Coleman, but a legal challenge could keep the race in limbo.
The Canvassing Board's declaration started a seven-day clock for Coleman to file a lawsuit protesting the result, as his attorneys have said he would. If he doesn't, Franken will get the election certificate he needs to take the seat in Washington.

The 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. And they completed a reversal of 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


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2009-01-05-minn-s...

---

YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Gregorian]

12. Yeah! Party time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh8ky9JszVg&feature=Play...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkSPUDpe0U8

[trayfoot]

13. Great News!!!!!

[DainBramaged]

14. Bite me Norm bite me, oh wait, maybe not!

Norm Coleman Hypocrite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU8ZpMdvbKE

[derby378]

15. It ain't over until Franken has that certificate in his hand

Let's not start singing "I've got a Golden Ticket" just yet.

But fingers are now crossed...

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Ok...when and what is the final final final determining event in this never ending election race?

Where and when does the final say so exist?

One that can not be appealed, cried over, sued, ignored, etc.

[dflprincess]

18. When Norman concedes or when he exhausts all his legal options

Minnesota law says the election certificate cannot be issued as long as litigation is pending and weasel-boy has 7 days to file all the lawsuits he wants.

What happened today is that the canvassing board certified that the recount is complete and Franken is the winner, but the election itself is not yet "certified".

[Ian David]

17. Franken / Olbermann 2016! n/t

[DainBramaged]

39. Norm Coleman, LOSER to Jesse Ventura AND Al Franken

has to mean something.

[Acadia Blue]

19. Coleman stole Paul Wellstone's seat. All the repigs do is steal,

and they think they are entitled to steal too!

[Wizard777]

20. When will Reid tell Coleman not to bother he will not be seated?

At least Coleman has done something to deserve this treatment. He lost the election.

[mckara]

23. I Wonder if Al Can Convince the Senate to Have Pirate Days?

Blame It on the Bossa Nova...

[kpete]

24. Recount results certified with Franken on top

Source: Star Tribune

Recount results certified with Franken on top
The action concludes the recount, with Democrat Franken ahead by 225 votes, but the Coleman campaign has said it plans a legal challenge. In a brief appearance, Franken said he is "proud to stand before you as your next senator."

By PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune

Last update: January 5, 2009 - 4:23 PM

The state Canvassing Board certified the results of the U.S. Senate recount this afternoon, showing Democrat Al Franken with a 225-vote advantage over incumbent Republican Norm Coleman.

The action came hours after the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected a bid by Coleman to have hundreds of rejected absentee ballots considered in the recount, prompting the Coleman campaign to say that an election contest, or lawsuit, "is now inevitable."

After the board certified the results, Franken made a brief statement outside his Minneapolis home, saying: "After 62 days of careful, painstaking hand inspections, I am proud to stand before you as your next senator."


Read more: W3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DU" target="_blank">http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/370...

[aquart]

25. Certified?!!!!! (Exhaling) Finally.

[New Earth]

26. Coleman = FAIL

[truthisfreedom]

28. Coleman's only purpose for this is to disrupt the business of the United States during a time of

hardship and crisis. His decision is completely selfish and self-serving, and does NOTHING for Minnesota or the country. He's a hateful, despicable hypocrite.

[loveable liberal]

29. Norm is a scumbag.

Expect nothing less from "Mr. Zipper Problem", "Senator Sprinkle" (the water carrier), "Mr. Truth Squad", "Mr. Free Rent", lying, cheating, aholio, fart-knockin, sh** eating, dog licking, corn hole scratching, gay-fearing, fake hoefstra rebel, vietnam protesting, hypocrite embracing, farmer screwing, education strangling, environment hating, tom petters loving, little guy stomping, dental work getting, funny shaped head having, george galloway fearing, george bush smooching, dick cheney washing, dope smokin, crotch cheese tasting, dick faced, soft handed, spineless, dip-sh**.

You are the weakest link; goodbye!

[geardaddy]

30. I couldn't have said it better myself...

and is that a picture of an old Zamboni?

[loveable liberal]

56. That is an old Zamboni.

An interesting factoid: Zamboni frames are/were built on the frames of Jeep's. My neighbor went and bought new rims for his Jeep in Wisconsin. They were off an old zamboni.

[Deja Q]

31. Wouldn't that be a waste of taxpayers' money, Norm?

You've lost, Coleman. Please, give it up. Especially as you were the one saying it would be a waste of taxpayers' money in the first place.

[No Elephants]

33. Al's first address to the Senate: "You're probably asking yourselves what you can do for

me, Al Franken."

I'd probably laugh until I hurt myself.

[mascarax]

38. Oh, that would be hilarious!

Thanks for making me laugh.

[vinylsolution]

35. They stole Wellstone's seat....

.... After stealing Wellstone from us all.

Well done, Big Al. PW is smiling down you today.

[FriendlyReminder]

37. Let the smarmy little weasel sue all he wants. It's his money to waste.

[Thor_MN]

40. Starting tomorrow. FORMER Senator Norm Coleman.

As soon as the 11th Congress convenes, he is the Honorable FORMER Senator Coleman. The 1st word is, of course, debateable and I think he will prove that it really doesn't apply. The operative word is former, as he is no longer Senator Coleman.

It will be interesting to see which media outlets start calling him former Senator and which don't.

[Hawkeye-X]

52. Actually his proper name is...

Dishonorable Ex-Senator soon-to-be-Convicted Felon Norman "Sleazy" Coleman, Fed ID 83172-013

[mnhtnbb]

41. I hope the RNC tells Coleman to shut up and go away.

[Swagman]

45. just delaying the inevitable

[whistle]

46. Using reTHUGlicon lawyers and judges I'm sure

[Swede Atlanta]

48. Coleman...it is over......

Norm Coleman, darling to Neocons, needs to pack up his crap and move back to snowy, ice-ridden Minnesooooota for good. He has been swept out in the great "cleansing" of 2008 which saw record losses for the Repukes. I am surprised that a state like Minnesota rendered an ultimate result so close but as they say, "every vote counts". Let's see what games he decides to play as he continues to try to hold onto his seat.

[Odin2005]

58. The independent "Ventura-ist" candidates take votes away from the Dems.

Which is why Governor "Timmy the Tool" got re-elected.

[sce56]

49. I was telling my sister today you know the way the Senate has been running for the past few years

you'd think it was seated with a bunch of comedians, Oh Franken was a Comedian! I'll bet he does a better job than most of the Jokers in there now!

[GreenTea]

50. Fucking Republicans!!!

[MiniMe]

53. The major difference between this election and 2000 Florida is that Franken has been declared...

the winner, just like Bushie was. So Norm has to challenge to overturn the recount results. I don't think he has a chance in hell, but he is going to try.

[efhmc]

59. "The major difference"? The major difference is that they waited

until all the votes were counted.

[MiniMe]

60. I agree there. I'm just talking about as far as lawsuits go

Bushie didn't get any results overturned, he stopped the counting. A travesty imho. In this case, the ballots were counted. To overturn the results at this point would be extremely difficult. That was the point I was trying to make, I guess that I didn't state it clearly.

And no, I don't think that George won Florida. My point was more that he was declared the winner, and it is hard to overturn once that has been declared.

Melissa

[bdamomma]

57. all Minnesotans must call their reps and get Franken seated.

[opihimoimoi]

61. Norm is turning into a Bad Joke.....he is not thinking for the Nations well being

Self Centered asshole he is....