Franken Declared Winner, Coleman Promises To Go To Court

Not surprising, yet still depressing.

A Minnesota court ruled Monday night that Democrat Al Franken has defeated Republican Norm Coleman and should be granted the election certificate that will allow him to take his seat in the U.S. Senate.

The Coleman camp immediately vowed to appeal.

"More than 4,400 Minnesotans remain wrongly disenfranchised by this court's order," Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg said in a statement. "By its own terms, the court has included votes it has found to be 'illegal' in the contest to remain included in the final counts from Election Day, and equal protection and due process concerns have been ignored. For these reasons, we must appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court so that no voter is left behind."

The three-judge panel rejected Coleman's equal-protection arguments, saying that "errors or irregularities identified by contestants in the general election do not violate the mandates of equal protection."

We'll see if he goes through with the court challenge or not. At some point (fairly or not) at some point it starts to look like sour grapes to average people. Plus, it's expensive to keep these going.

Meanwhile, in upstate NY it's still basically tied in the race for the 20th CD. There are still votes left to be counted and challenges to be determined. Get ready for Minnesota on the Hudson, hopefully with a better outcome.

posted by DrewM. at 08:40 PM

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