| Minnesota's senate race took more twists and turns today, as the Coleman campaign looked desperately for ways to overcome Franken's 46 vote lead: The U.S. Senate recount spiraled deeper into confusion and bickering Monday, with the campaigns of Sen. Norm Coleman and DFLer Al Franken at odds over how many rejected absentee ballots should be counted and a state Supreme Court deadline to do so looming just four days away.
The impasse clouded what might happen today as the first in a series of meetings across Minnesota, involving local election officials, convene to sort through at least 1,346 absentee ballots -- and maybe hundreds more -- to see which ones may have been improperly rejected in the Nov. 4 election.... Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann ... said a late proposal from Coleman -- to review 654 more votes atop the 1,346 absentee ballots that local officials had already agreed were mistakenly rejected -- threatened to derail the process. ... Over the weekend, the Franken campaign agreed to review only the 1,346 absentee ballots that local election officials had acknowledged were mistakenly rejected. Franken campaign officials said they had spent most of the weekend, without success, trying to get the Coleman campaign to join them. ... The Coleman campaign, meanwhile, released its own list late Monday, containing 654 rejected absentee ballots that it wants considered. The proposed additions are weighted heavily toward rural counties and the Twin Cities suburbs where Coleman fared well. While more than 170 of the ballots are from Hennepin County, only a half-dozen are from Minneapolis, where Franken did well. Republican-leaning suburbs Orono, Minnetonka and Minnetrista together had more ballots that Coleman wants to count than did Minneapolis. But the fact that Franken is in the lead, and may get certified next week, is leading to this: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office is not yet committing to provisionally seating Al Franken, pending the outcome of the expected post-recount election contest litigation in Minnesota, as the date for new Senators to be sworn in gets closer and closer. The suggestion to provisionally seat the declared winner of the recount -- who at this point is expected to be Franken -- was first made by Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar this weekend, in the interest of making sure the state would have full representation while the litigation is pending. "At this stage, it appears that Franken will be certified the winner by the State Canvassing Board," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Harry Reid, in a statement to Election Central. "We're keeping abreast of the situation and will make a decision with regard to Senate action at the appropriate point in the process."
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