GOP Senate Prepared to Back Colman to High Court
Republican Senate Caucus Seems to Trust Norm Colman's Judgment
The seemingly never ending Senate contest between former incumbent Norm Colman and the declared winner of the 2008 U.S. Senate race from Minnesota Al Franken, has moved into what will become oral arguments in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court come June 1, 2008. Last week Colman had filed a brief with the court asking it to overturn the recent three-judge panel that declared Franken the winner and to order that an additional 4,400 ballots be opened and recounted or that no winner be declared, setting up a do-over or re-vote scenario. Franken meanwhile, through a brief he filed with the court, called the rules variations applied concerning absentee ballots in various counties through out Minnesota a minor issue, however Colman's brief counters that the margin of victory is only 312 votes, and the 4,400 ballots are certainly enough to overturn the outcome of the election.
Minnesota has Four Reasons for Rejecting an Absentee Ballot
In Minnesota the laws are very particular as it concerns the rejection of an absentee ballot,
- The voter wasn't registered
- The voter failed to sign the ballot
- The voter's witness was not qualified
- The voter cast another ballot
In this case, Colman's camp is wanting the court to assume that these 4,400 ballots have all been registered, authorized, and signed properly. Which seems a pretty tall order as a state wide recount and a review by the three-judge panel took nearly five months to go over the already agreed upon ballots including rejecting ballots with the imput of both the Colman and Franken camps. But Colman has long contended that more ballots should be included and that the rules governing the inclusion of ballots had not been universally followed, his court brief said, "In sum, the record confronts the court with indisputable evidence that this deliberate, disparate treatment of voters was significant enough to affect the outcome."
Colman Seems to Have Support for His Challenge All the Way to the U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Senate Republicans have voiced strong support for Colman and many like Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn) have openly suggested that he take his fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a recent article that appeared in the on-line magazine The Hill.com, Brownback was as quoted as saying, "I'll back Norm as far as he believes he should go. He's there on the ground, he's the one with the best information and he's a good and honorable man. [The election], It's very hotly contested very close, and there's a lot of questions." Sen. Bob Corker commented, "Norm is somebody I greatly respect. I think he has very good judgment and he has a great sense of what ought to be done. It's his case and he's in the middle of it," Corker said. Other Republican Senators who voiced support for Colman include Jeff Sessions (R-Ala), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Conference Vice Chairman John Thune (R-SD), and Minority Whip John Kyle (R-AZ). Long time Senate member Orin Hatch (R-Utah), was very outspoken when he commented, "There are very important issues involved--constitutional issues--and I have no qualms about saying that he can, he ought to push it all the way. We're so sick and tired of having one set of rules for Democrats they don't abide by, and then another set of rules for Republicans. The Democrats didn't count the ballots the way they should and they didn't put protections in that they should, Hatch said.
Norm Coleman
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Al Franken
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