(MN) Sen. Klobuchar: Seat The Winner (Likely Franken) Until Legal Battles End

[babylonsister]

Sam Stein
HuffPost Reporting From DC

Franken, If Up In Votes, Should Be Seated Before Legal Battles End: Klobuchar

December 28, 2008 12:40 PM


With concern rising in Minnesota that the state could be without a Senator for the crucial early months of the next Congress, Sen. Amy Klobuchar weighed in with a significant proposal this weekend: seat the unofficial winner until all legal challenges are finalized.

"If the Canvassing Board declares a winner, that should be our senator," said the Minnesota Democrat. Even if a court challenge were to follow, she added, " could seat a senator pending the litigation."

Should Klobuchar's vision bear out, it would likely result in Al Franken taking over the Senate seat on a temporary basis. Democrats would get a 59th caucus member and a potentially important vote on key legislative matters.

The Minnesota canvassing board is set to certify the vote total from the election sometime in early January (a date is not yet official). As it stands know, Franken should emerge ahead in the count by a scant 47 votes. Sen. Norm Coleman would then have seven days to challenge the board's conclusion, a course of action his campaign has said it will almost certainly pursue.

The legal gridlock that would ensue could mean that there is no official Senate winner for weeks, if not much longer. Thirty-four years ago in New Hampshire, a similar situation took place, and the state was short a representative in the Senate for ten months.

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