The Norm Coleman team just held a conference call in which the
campaign's lawyers, Fritz Knaak and Tony Trimble, discussed the
latest developments in the ongoing recount debacle in Minnestota.
This morning, the Coleman and Franken campaigns had a
testy meeting over the issue of counting rejected absentee
ballots, with the Coleman campaign arguing that Franken is
pushing for ballots in counties most favorable to its cause be
counted.
"We are stunned by the Franken campaign's hypocrisy about
counting every vote," Knaak said on the call. "They don't want to
count every vote. They want to count every Franken vote."
Specifically, Knaak noted that several affidavits that Franken
submitted in Dakota and Ramsey counties to make the case to count
certain absentee ballots turned out to be fake.
The Star Tribune has estimated that Franken is now up by
46 votes, but the Coleman campaign said they believe they are
ahead. Also, if their court challenge to eliminate
double-counting of duplicate ballots succeeds, they said they
expect a net gain of over 100 votes.
Either way, it's increasingly looking like a race that won't be
resolved for weeks, at the earliest.
