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ERIC BLACK INK

Franken, Coleman, Hot Air

By Eric Black | Published Thu, Apr 9 2009 9:47 am

I'm back from Spring Break, tanned and ready to catch up on the substantive developments in everyone's favorite recount case (there was one such development, the counting of the last votes that the ThreeJudges believe should be counted), while patiently awaiting the next substantive development (the ThreeJudges final order could be issued any minute, or next week).

But it's hard to breathe in the middle of all this hot air. I don't mean the weather (which is lovely) but the predictable, never-ending unnecessary political rhetoric.

I personally have had enough of Dems offering their view of what Norm Coleman should do (take a long walk off a short pier). If there are Democrats from whom Coleman would accept advice, he would probably not ask for it in the form of a press release.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Repub of Texas, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee and might therefore be viewed as less than an impartial commentator, says that Dems who tell Coleman to give it up are guilty of "blatant hypocrisy" because their current position -- don't count any more ballots -- contradicts the position they took -- keep counting -- in 2000 when the U.S. Supreme Court canceled the Florida statewide recount thus making G.W. Bush president. In the interest of brevity, Sen. Cornyn did not find space to comment on the hypocrisy of Repubs who have made an opposite switcheroo between the Bush/Gore and the Franken/Coleman cases.

Could anything be more predictable and less helpful than this: At 1 p.m. today, MNGOP chair Ron Carey will address the media in Room 125 of the State Capitol to, in the words of the MNGOP press release announcing the event, "urge Al Franken to join with Senator Norm Coleman to demand that all legally cast ballots be counted."

Wait, here it is: At 2:30, in the very same room, MN DFL chair Brian Melendez will "call on former Senator Norm Coleman to listen to public opinion and do what is best for the people of Minnesota" and will back up his advice by "launch[ing] a public information campaign encouraging Coleman to concede."

Election '08 | Thu, Apr 9 2009 9:47 am | 10 Comments

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10 Comments: Hide/Show Comments

(#1) On April 9, 2009, Tim Walker says:

I think Al should show up at the 1 o'clock GOP press conference and agree to join Norm in demanding "that all legally cast ballots be counted."

And then Al should note that that has already been done.

Unless it's that Norm wants the ThreeJudges to become "activist judges" and ignore all MN election rules to allow clearly illegally cast ballots to be counted.

But GOPers don't like activist judges, right?

At least the DFL hot air (in the form of a public information campaign) will stimulate the economy!

(#2) On April 9, 2009, Ross Williams says:

"Could anything be more predictable and less helpful than this"

A media report on either one?

These things are entirely creations of the news media. They wouldn't be doing these "news conferences" if they didn't think you and your colleagues would report on them. They are holding them at the capitol because they know there are a lot of news media there with time on their hands.

(#3) On April 9, 2009, Jack Craypo says:

I'm afraid Eric Black's comments are a little disappointing. First, Mr. Black agrues that Democrats should not offer ideas on what Norm should do because that would be hypocrisy. This is a silly argument.

Democrats have consistently argued that all of the legally cast ballots should be counted, and this is exactly what has been done. The court has ruled on what constitutes a legally cast ballot, and all of these have been counted. To suggest, as Mr. Black does, that there is any merit in the Coleman's claim that we still need to count legally cast ballots is to beg the question.

If Coleman has proof that legally cast ballots were not counted, he had three months in court in which to present it. We saw nothing. If Mr. Black wishes to be Coleman's "Amen chorus," he should be so good as to explain how the court got it wrong and why Coleman chose not to reveal any evidence to support his claim.

A second disappointment in Mr. Black's column is his contention that Democrats are wasting their time trying to advise Coleman about what he should do. Obviously Democrats are not trying to "advise" Norm Coleman about anything, and Mr. Black knows that. Democrats are trying to put pressure on Coleman to end his stall tactics. Senate Republicans are already talking about stalling this election for "years"--if they can get away with it. Democrats are very rightly and properly trying to resist these outrageous tactics by making Norm and the Minnesota GOP pay a political price for their tactics.

Mr. Black must be aware that the courts have already decided what constitutes a legal vote and that ALL of these votes have been counted. Mr. Black must also be aware that Senate Republicans have gone on record predicting that they will be able to stall the seating of Al Franken for years. Why Mr. Black chooses to feign ignorance of all this in his article is a mystery.

(#4) On April 9, 2009, Steven Prince says:

To print Sen. Cornyn's argument, and comment that Republicans are guilty of the same hypocracy of which they accuse the Democrats, is to engage in "journalistic" equivalency of the worst sort. The comparison between Florida in 2000 and Minnesota in 2008 is the real hypocracy. In 2000 the Republcians opposed completing the recount. In Minnesopta the recount is completed, and has been tested under the watchful eyes of a 3 judge panel. There are no more legally cast balots to count.

(#5) On April 9, 2009, Tom Anderson says:

Mr. Black might have noticed that ballots accepted in one part of the state were not accepted in other parts of the state. We might all be glad that this last bunch of ballots was opened and counted which would not have happened if Mr. Coleman had conceded a few days ago. Whether all legal ballots have been counted will probably be decided by the state Supreme Court.

(#6) On April 9, 2009, Eric Ferguson says:

http://www.ravensblog.net

I don't see the inconsistency in Franken's position, and I make "position" singular on purpose. He raised the issue of wrongly rejected ballots because wrongly rejecting them broke the law. He objected to including rightly rejected ballots because again, that's the law. It seems Franken has consistently said follow the law, while Coleman has completely reversed his position as circumstances required.

(#7) On April 10, 2009, Larry Wall says:

County election officials have combed through a pile of approximately 11,000 rejected absentee ballots about 3 times, and determined that about 400 of the ballots are legally cast in accordance with Minnesota state law, but that the remaining 10,600 ballots are not legally cast. The county election officials believe the 2 campaigns improperly rejected these 400 ballots.

The 3 Contest judges have reviewed the same pile of about rejected 11,000 absentee ballots and determined that about 350 of the ballots are legally cast in accordance with Minnesota state law, but the remaining 10,650 are not legally cast.

So the election officials and judges agree (within about 50 ballots) that out of about 290,000 total absentee ballots cast during the election, the absentee voters of Minnesota have had their votes properly tabulated. 50 ballots out of 11,000 ballots is less than 0.5%, so Minnesotans can be proud of the accuracy revealed by the Minnesota electoral process in the determination of improperly cast absentee ballots.

Because there were some differences between the various voting centers in how thorough election officials were in verifying that all absentee ballots were legally cast, one campaign has suggested some illegally cast ballots may have slipped through the electoral process and were improperly counted.

Perhaps that is true. It is difficult to know, because the ballot envelopes have already been opened and the ballots counted. But based on the close agreement of properly rejected absentee ballots between the Contest judges and the election officials, there probably could not have been very many that slipped through. So some may feel that just because the possibility exists, it would seem unreasonable (if not illegal) to count all of the pile of 10,650 rejected ballots that are known to be non-compliant with Minnesota state law.

And perhaps they may feel that it is even less reasonable to count a subset of those ballots that tend to geographically favor one campaign over the other.

(#8) On April 10, 2009, David Frye says:

There is no Democratic hypocrisy because in 2000, the Democrat's goal was the same as it is in this case -- have a manual recount to ensure that every lawfully cast ballot was found and counted, and make sure that every lawfully cast ballot was opened and counted. The Franken legal team's message, as voiced by Marc Elias in his scores of pressers, has been consistent from day one and it has not changed at all. In his pressers Elias has also stated that Coleman has the legal right to seek redress in court, whether he is right or wrong in his theories

Coleman on the other hand, has shifted positions as his interests have changed. If the goal of the Coleman legal team is to actually mount an effective legal argument and build a winning case on the merits, it has been an abysmal failure. The weakness of the evidence on Coleman's side is, as Kevin Hamilton put it in closing argument, breathtaking.

From a legal perspective, its difficult to see Coleman's efforts as anything other than an effort at delaying, and casting doubt on, the inevitable.

(#9) On April 11, 2009, Jeff Kline says:

I'm with a lot of folks here. Its time. Lets let Franken get seated in the Senate. The state of the economy is tanking further and further, and with the plans of the Democrats in all points government set to full steam ahead, having Franken seated will really just hasten the inevitable crash of the US economy. Then the rest of us that see all this BS, will decide it's time to throw them all out and replace them with; "We the people", instead of all the damned lawyers.

(#10) On April 12, 2009, Sophie Guiterrez says:

http://www.joankenley.com/20090411.html

The way the mainstream corporate media has reported (or not reported) on this senate race has dismayed me. I was just listening to an episode of The Joan Kenley Show (progressive Bay Area podcast) called <a href="http://www.joankenley.com/20090411.html">The Media: What’s True, What’s Not</a> that examined how the media manipulates the information we hear and therefore history itself; it ties in nicely with this entry.

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Eric Black is a former reporter for the Star Tribune and Twin Cities blogger. He writes about politics and government of Minnesota and the United States, the historical background of topics and other issues. Click here to view Eric's previous postings at former blog, Eric Black Ink. He can be reached at eblack [at] minnpost [dot] com.

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Franken, Coleman, Hot Air

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