On a conference call with reporters, Al Franken’s lead attorney Marc Elias reiterated the campaign’s position that the outcome of the Senate race is now certain — that Al Franken is the winner.
“There are a handful of side issues that the court has yet to resolve, but none of them would involve enough votes at this point to affect the outcome,” said Elias. “The total margin could change by a handful of votes, either up or down, but while the margin may not be set, the final result is no longer in doubt.”
Elias said that Norm Coleman had the opportunity to bring his case — and there were thousands and thousands of pages of evidence here — but has only fallen behind: “So he will have to make the decision whether to appeal or not. But I think the question is not whether he has the right to appeal, but whether filing an appeal would be the right thing to do for the state of Minnesota.”
A reporter asked Elias about public statements by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s (R) spokesman, that a certificate of election could be delayed even after the state Supreme Court hears the appeal, if a federal court were to issue a stay against it. “Obviously, I think the governor has to abide by state law,” said Elias. “And I think I take the governor at his word that all he is stating is something that perhaps is less ambitious than it’s been interpreted — that if he is enjoined by a court, whether it’s a state court or a federal court — he being the governor would act in a lawful fashion and abide by the stay.”
Elias also said it would be unprecedented if Al Franken were to get his certificate, only to find Senate Republicans mounting a filibuster to stop him from being seated. “That may be a little puffery by some Senators here and there, who are doing it for their own political reasons,” said Elias, adding that he expects Franken would be seated once he has a certificate.
I asked Elias about the statements from NRSC chairman John Cornyn, that the case could take “years” to resolve. “Well look — Sen. Cornyn is the Senator from Texas and probably — is a former judge from Texas, so presumably knows a lot about Texas law. I’m not sure how much time he spent looking at the Minnesota law,” Elias said, explaining that state law is quite clear on this being finished quickly. “I take it that Senators are very busy people, and he may have gotten some bad information handed to him by someone. I’ll let Sen. Cornyn explain perhaps what he meant, but I don’t — I can’t even envision where that kind of timeframe would be coming from.”
On his own conference call, Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg repeated his earlier statements that the campaign will be appealing the expected ruling. Ginsberg said the court ignored the tough problems presented by their tough standards for letting new ballots. “And by that I mean, while Minnesota really does have one of the best election administrations in the country, what this election shows is that it has also tremendous flaws when the election gets this close,” said Ginsberg. “And so in trying to stick up and defend their home state system, the judges didn’t want to look at different standards between the counties, nor at the illegal ballots in the Election Day count.”
