Archive for the ‘US election 2008’ Category
Palin Will Resign as Governor of Alaska this Month
This is a fascinating piece from ElectoralVote.com on Palin’s resignation – well written and very informative of the Republican election scene at the present.
"We’ve seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that," said John Weaver, a long-time Republican operative close to Sen. John McCain about Sarah Palin’s surprise resignation yesterday. Palin did not give any real explanation of why she is resigning as governor of Alaska other than that she was not planning to run for reelection and did not want to be a lame duck. She also said she polled her children, who didn’t like her being attacked all the time. She will be succeeded by Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell (R-AK), who ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives and lost the primary to incumbent Don Young.
link to the rest of this piece here Permalink
Fat Lady starts to sing as Coleman Concedes
Yesterday, the Minnesota state Supreme Court that Al Franken (D) won the Nov. 2008 senatorial election by 312 votes. The court rejected the claim by Norm Coleman (R) that the lower court made major mistakes and should be reversed.
Thus Al Franken will be sworn into the Senate when after the recess next week. However, Franken could take the oath of office from a local judge if he wishes. It has been done before. Franken would then be allowed to start hiring staff so he can hit the ground running Monday.
That end the longest thread by Salopblog and Gitnews – what a way to run an election!
Coleman, late night’s fave punchline?
Norm Coleman may be on the verge of losing his Supreme Court case against Al Franken for the US Minnesota Senate seat but since June 12 there have been at least four jokes at Coleman’s expense from Bill Maher, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert.
• “They had elections today in Iran. Apparently, it’s still too close to call. They say if the vote is still close by tomorrow, there will be a runoff election next week and then the usual series of lawsuits from Norm Coleman.” Maher, June 12
• “So now they’re going through the recount. They’re recounting the ballots cast in the Iranian election, and today they found 14 more votes for Norm Coleman.” Letterman, June 17
• “The supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said, ‘This election was not rigged, the results are final, and you can protest all you want, but if you keep doing it, we’re going to start cracking heads.’ Now, if we could only get this guy to call Norm Coleman.” Maher, June 19
• On Iran’s decision to get rid of 3 million suspicious votes: “To put that in perspective, that’s enough to put 9,615 Norm Coleman’s in the Senate.” Colbert, June 23
Minnesota court orders Coleman to pay $95K
Norm Coleman must pay Democrat Al Franken $94,783 to cover court costs for his appeal of Minnesota Senate election results. It results from the two-month trial that ended with Coleman 312 votes short of Franken.
Minnesota law required Coleman to cover some of Franken’s court costs because the race’s outcome didn’t change. The judgment excludes Franken’s attorney fees.
The men have spent $50 million so far on their campaigns and legal fight over the November election. That’s more than double the cost of the 2002 race when Coleman captured what had been a Democratic seat.
The Court hasn’t said when it will rule on Coleman’s appeal.
Experts give it to Franken
Minnesota’s Supreme Court has not published its verdict yet, but various experts who have followed the case closely say that his chances of winning are virtually nil. They deduce this from the questions all justices asked Coleman’s lawyers during the oral hearing on June 1. All of them wanted to see evidence that the canvassing board made mistakes. Not speculation, but evidence. In effect, they were saying: "Show us actual legally cast absentee ballots that were rejected." The argument that such ballots might exist didn’t seem to impress the justices. Rick Hasen, a professor and specialist in election law, thinks the justices had already made up their minds that Franken won even before the hearing based on the transcripts they got in May. A decision is expected this month.
Minnesota Fats
This from electoralvote.com
In what might be the beginning of the end of the everlasting Senate election contest in Minnesota, the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear lawyers for Norm Coleman and Al Franken plead their cases today. Probably the five justices hearing the case won’t learn anything new. After all, they have been following this case with more than casual interest for 7 months, have already gotten Coleman’s brief, Franken’s rebuttal, and Coleman’s rebuttal to the rebuttal and have long since read the transcripts of the trial court proceedings. Today they get to question the lawyers, but it is unlikely they will be able to think of many questions that have not already been asked and answered many times.
One thing the court is keenly aware of is that whoever loses is likely to appeal the decision to the federal courts, possibly directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. No court likes to be reversed on appeal, so the justices will probably take their time in writing a careful verdict, even though most of them may have already made up their minds based on the voluminous written record. They are likely to take several weeks to render a verdict, but probably not more than a month since they are also aware that the public wants another senator.
Coleman Preparing Case for the Supreme Court
Even I am getting bored with this procrastination – I would have thought that by 23/05/09 (7 months since election) I would have closed down the US election thread but it apparently still has legs – this from Electoral-vote.com
The Minnesota Supreme Court now has briefs from both Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D). The lawyers will present their cases before the court on June 1. Then the court will render a verdict, probably within a week or two. In fact, it is hard to imagine that the justices will learn anything on June 1 that they don’t already know. In case he loses, Norm Coleman is ready to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is very unlikely Franken will lose outright. Courts really, really, really, don’t like to overturn elections. His worst-case scenario is that the Minnesota high court sends the case back to the lower court for a do-over using different rules. Coleman’s argument is fundamentally that different rules applied to different counties and that’s not fair. Of course, different counties have different voting equipment, which may not be fair either, but that’s how it is.
She’s not started yet
54% of Minnesota voters want Norm Coleman to concede so Al Franken can take Coleman’s former seat in the Senate. That’s according to a new Rasmussen poll that also finds that 63% Franken to be seated eventually, whatever Coleman does.
Fat lady might get to sing in 2 months!
After losing his case in court, former senator Norm Coleman (R) is appealing to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Coleman’s brief is due April 30th. Franken then has until May 11 to respond. Coleman can file a rebuttal up until May 15. Then the lawyers will argue their cases before the five justices on June 1. Two of the seven justices have recused themselves because they served on the state canvassing board earlier in the process. So Minnesota definitely won’t have a second senator until June at the earliest.
Coleman Files Appeal to Minnesota Supreme Court
As expected, Norm Coleman filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court asking the court to reverse the election. Since the three-judge panel overseeing the election contest very specifically addressed all the points Coleman made in his appeal, it will be an uphill climb for him. Even if they concede on some of the points, Coleman still has to find a net of 313 votes to win. The appeal could take several weeks or longer.
I just can’t let go until she sings.