With the major proceedings of the Minnesota trial now over — the closing arguments have been done, and it’s now in the three-judge panel’s hands — here are some other news items from the disputed race.
At a brief press conference held after the closing arguments were done, Norm Coleman commended his legal team, and discussed the importance of the issues at hand. “Whatever the outcome is, ultimately we’ll get to a conclusion in this,” said Norm. “But the bottom line is, people have a right to have their votes be counted.”
A reporter asked Norm if he would appeal, in the event that he loses in this court. “Let’s deal with this step right now,” said Norm. “There are a lot of votes to be counted. There are still a lot of issues to be sorted.” He then reiterated that he’s not looking forward, but is focused on the issues present right now.
Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg continued to insist on the inaccuracies in the election system, and kept up the campaign’s position that it might not be possible to certify any winner at all.
Ginsberg mentioned a line from Franken lawyer Kevin Hamilton’s closing argument that Minnesota’s election system works, and is one of the best in the country. “It is indeed,” said Ginsberg. “But he really proved our point that as good as the Minnesota system is, it is not finely-calibrated enough to tell who won this election.”
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters this morning that he would encourage Coleman to pursue appeals all the way to the Supreme Court: “I would until we know who won.”
McConnell also said of Coleman’s Equal Protection claims: “We all remember Bush v. Gore.”
Apparent Senator-elect Al Franken (D-Limbo) released this statement:
“I want to thank the court for the time and care it has devoted to hearing this case. And I want to thank my team for a job well done. Minnesotans have seen their election system put on trial over the past seven weeks, and we can all be proud of how it held up to the additional scrutiny of the three-judge panel. We will now await the judges’ ruling and hope that those few voters whose ballots have been proven to be improperly rejected will have their votes counted. But at the end of this long process, I remain proud of our state’s dedicated public servants, confident in the results of the election, and ready to get to work in Washington.”
And finally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just released this statement, possibly in response to McConnell’s remarks:
“The Minnesota courts’ ruling deserves respect and five million citizens of Minnesota deserve full representation in the U.S. Senate as soon as possible. Norm Coleman wanted his day in court, and we respect that. He’s gotten seven weeks. We all await the outcome from the three-judge panel.”
Late Update: NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh just sent TPM this statement in response to Reid:
“As Senator Reid made clear numerous times throughout the Roland Burris controversy, the Senate rules are clear that no one can be seated without a valid election certificate. So we trust Senator Reid will continue to follow the rules of the Senate and the precedent that he set for himself earlier this year, and will only seek to seat the Senator from Minnesota, whether it’s Norm Coleman or Al Franken, once a valid election certificate from the State of Minnesota has been issued declaring the winner.”
