Secrets of the City

The Minnesota Supreme Court has affirmed that Al Franken is entitled to receive the election certificate. (PDF of ruling)

Minnesota will be without full representation in the Senate until at least June.

FiveThirtyEight asks if Coleman is getting his money worth in the recount. He breaks down the numbers. It’s sort of pricey.

The panel of three-judges has found Coleman’s challenge of the election results to be without merit; actually, their language was rather strong. I was at the Franken press conference tonight and snapped some photos. Franken was sanguine. Less so was a passer-by, who, upon hearing the news, cursed loudly and cried out “Welcome to socialism!” Coleman says he will appeal.

Gawker sums of the facts: Al Franken won a key ruling from a three-judge panel in Minnesota, confining the election recount there to 400 absentee ballots and thus probably protecting Franken’s 225-vote lead.

Coleman’s staff is saying they have “no choice” but to go to the Supreme Court, but, of course, he has a choice — he could bow out. So why is nobody calling Coleman a sore loser?

In the meanwhile, on last night’s Letterman, Bill O’Reilly asserted that there had been fraud in this election and that we should just have a do-over. Is that was Coleman is hoping for? Is there any chance at all the Supreme Court will overturn the rulings of the lower courts? And, if not, is Coleman just being obsctructionist?

Via Strib: Texas Sen. John Cornyn is threatening “World War III” if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts.

Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledges that a federal challenge to November’s elections could take “years” to resolve. But he’s adamant that Coleman deserves that chance — even if it means Minnesota is short a senator for the duration.

So what’s fair? Coleman having another day in court while Minnesota goes one Senator short for years? And is threatening war, even metaphorically, really useful rhetoric?

Via the Minnesota Independent: Joe Friedberg, the star attorney who gave the closing arguments for Norm Coleman last week in Minnesota’s Senate trial, predicts his client won’t prevail in the election contest without appealing to the state Supreme Court.

But would he even prevail there?

City Pages tells Coleman to step aside. Coleman’s attorney hints at concession. Coleman’s team’s photocopying skills are not impressive. And Aaron tries to prove that Coleman’s people crashed his own Web site.

UPDATE: Paul Schmelzer at the Minnesota Independent has been looking into Aaron’s accusations that Coleman fibbed in his claims in a press release that his site was so inundated with disenfranchised voters that the site crashed. This claim is looking increasingly fishy.

MinnIndy asks: What if you see that one of the candidates bumped your ballet, one of the 400 the candidates rejected, and you think he shouldn’t have? The answer is that you can sue to get the ballot reconsidered. But it may cost you.

The winner of the Senate race will be abbounced tomorrow, and, with a 225 lead, the winner is expected to be Al Franken. Coleman says he’ll fight, and, until the issue is settled, Franken can’t be seated in Senate. Didn’t Coleman make the case when he was ahead that were he behind, he would step down?