All but over for Coleman, experts say - Michael Falcone - POLITICO.com »
Posted By scott4261 5 months, 3 weeks ago in Political NewsSeven months after Minnesota's Senate election, the state's highest court hasn't reached a decision but election law experts agree: Norm Coleman doesn’t have a prayer.
These experts see almost no chance Coleman's lawyers will prevail in their appeal to the state’s high court to count more ballots in a bid to erase Al Franken’s slim lead.
Peter Knapp, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, pointed to the court's oral arguments on Monday, when the justices expressed skepticism toward Coleman’s lawyer, Joe Friedberg.
“Each of the five justices asked some questions that seemed to hone in on the absence of evidence," said Knapp, an expert on the Minnesota Supreme Court who has kept a close eye on the case. "And when each of the five are asking those questions, that’s significant.”
He cautioned that “it’s really easy to over-read the judges' questions as a sign of the way they’re leaning,” but added: “That being said, if I had to put money on the outcome – my money would be on Franken.”
Edward B. Foley, an election law expert at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, agreed: “Based on the questioning, I’d be surprised if Coleman got a remand back to the trial court.”
Foley said that Coleman’s lawyers “always had a fighting chance” based on legal theory — but, he pointed out, “having a valid legal theory is not enough to win a lawsuit.”
He and other legal scholars interviewed by POLITICO said that that the facts were simply not on Coleman’s side. Friedberg’s task this week was to convince the justices of his contention that more than 4,000 additional absentee ballots should be included in the final vote tally because they had not been handled in the same way by every county.
The legal wrangling has stretched on since January and in his appeal to the state high court, Coleman, a Republican, contended that the decision in April of a three-judge panel that ruled Franken won the election by just over 300 votes should be overturned.
In an article posted on his Web site after watching the oral arguments, Foley noted that Coleman might end up losing the appeal not because his case lacked merit, but instead because his legal team failed to muster enough hard proof to “show which specific ballots were wrongly treated by local election officials.”
At one point on Monday, Associate Justice Christopher Dietzen, who was appointed to the court last year by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, complained to Friedberg that he was offering “no concrete evidence” to back up his theories....
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scott4261
I had been spending way too much time on propeller. Some of the recent changes have made it more user friendly.
.....I don't do ...
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Endoscopy5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Who should go to jail for all fo the election fraud in that election. More votes than voters for example. Only absentee voters for Franken but no Coleman. And you liberals hated the voting machines. I guess this is why. Much easier to do fraud with the paper ballots.
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jordan115 months, 3 weeks ago
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I'm so fed up with republicans, & I'll be very happy when this ridiculous scam is over. But I'm going to say this about their election laws; They're wrong to allow a win by such a slim margin when so many glitches can happen (like lost ballots, incorrectly counted ballots, or incorrectly disregarded ballots). WA state's governor won by fewer than 50 votes a few years ago, and even though I supported her, I believed there should have been a run off. So while I'm glad anything but a republican won, I still think their election laws should be revisited.
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Endoscopy5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Scam? When there were problems and you guy lost it was criminal. Now the shoe is on the other foot and it is minor problems. The fact that these minor problems in this case threw the election means nothing. This stinks except to those who are radical left.
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AbuAmirahComment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned
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jordan115 months, 3 weeks ago
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This has nothing to do with telling the future. It has to do with how that state's election laws are written. And that's the ONLY guide their SC can use. So the 'experts' reviewed the election laws, and don't see anything to help Coleman. It's unlikely that more than one 'expert' is wrong.
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Ratskii5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Was wondering where you've been Auto? I've missed all the really vile, rightwing, partisan invective. I've always felt that you do more to harm the causes you support than otherwise.
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By the by, to the best of my knowledge Saul Alinski isn't a Marxist. Did I miss something. Do you have any evidence?
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cowboygrandpa5 months, 3 weeks ago
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All this has done is shown just how much the Republicans hate the electorate and their decisions, when they are not in their favor !!!!
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Anyone who would back a crybaby loser for their political party has lost any relevant thought process.
That is the sign of desperation folks !!!
It is not that I love the Democrats so much as I depsise the Republicans in what they have become. Hollow little shrill puppets that all echo the same lies over and over.
They see the end coming to their party of Governing Old Pathetics.
It was really over by the Reagan years. They just didn't see the writing on the wall, and neither did the poor saps who backed the blundering idots. Less Government , less taxes for the wealthy, more military spending, less thought about the citizens of America, more thoughts on how to increase the wealth of the wealthy. Yep that is the GOP way !! Throw in a couple of Amens to ease the conscious of the holier than thous and all is okay. LOL
Time for something new !!!
The truth would be nice. Hahahahahaaahaa -
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hefaa1Comment removed: Hard Banned
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