Franken wins key decision on ballots
WASHINGTON - Al Franken, the comedian-turned-politician, won a potentially decisive court ruling yesterday in his bid to replace Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican trying to hold on to his Senate seat.
A three-judge panel ruled that only 400 absentee ballots - far fewer than Coleman had sought - should be examined for possible counting.
If the ruling stands, it could be devastating for Coleman, who trailed his Democratic challenger by 225 votes out of some 2.9 million cast and had hoped that nearly 1,400 absentee ballots might be recounted.
Even if the results put Coleman further in the hole, as expected, he could fight on, before the Minnesota Supreme Court or perhaps in the federal courts. His lawyer said Coleman had not given up.
After seven weeks of deliberations, the court said it would decide which of the 400 ballots would be counted in open court by next Tuesday.
The panel said it based its decision on "a complete and thorough review of the 1,717 exhibits and transcripts of testimony."
The mathematics appeared to give Franken a big advantage, and the lawyers for both sides recognized that.
"We feel pretty good about where we stand," Marc Elias, a lawyer for Franken, said.
Ben Ginsberg, a lawyer for Coleman, disagreed sharply with the court's ruling.
"I just think they're wrong," he said.
Ginsberg said the Coleman campaign plans to appeal the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court, but he would not speculate on whether Coleman would take his appeal to federal courts.