Spring Break
Minn. Senate race leaves voters tired of law drama
Brian Bakst - The Associated Press
Issue date: 3/9/09 Section: News
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More than four months after Election Day, Minnesota voters are only marginally closer to knowing whether Democrat Al Franken or Republican Norm Coleman will represent them in Washington.
The stakes go beyond Minnesota: Franken would put Democrats in position to muscle their agenda through with barely any Republican help, and he could be a difference-maker on the federal budget and a proposal giving labor unions a leg up on management when organizing.
Some Minnesotans, like actor Jared Reise, are past caring who wins and just want the state to regain its second senator.
"This is a very important time to have everybody there, with the way the economy is," said Reise, of suburban Eagan, who didn't vote for either man on Nov. 4. "It's a little long-winded, this whole recount."
The statewide recount ended two months ago, with Franken ahead by 225 votes out of 2.9 million cast. Coleman had held a similar sized lead heading into the recount. The campaigns are now arguing in a special court whether the latest tally is accurate.
Coleman, whose term expired Jan. 3, argues that absentee voters were treated differently based on where they lived and that officials made mistakes that gave some people two votes. Until those and other irregularities are accounted for, his lawyers say, it's impossible for the public to have faith in the result.
Franken's lawyers counter that the election was as precise as humanly possible. Six weeks into the trial, they say Coleman has failed to prove to a three-judge panel that there were enough errors to reverse the outcome.
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