Al Franken to move to dismiss Senate case

By GottaLaff

Wait. There was a case? I don't seem to remember Toker Norm making a legitimate one. No, I think that's overstating it just a tad. But since MSNBC wants to refer to this fiasco that way, go Al!

Four months after Minnesota voters threw their Senate election into chaos, Democrat Al Franken's lawyers finalized papers Wednesday asking a court to bring an end to Republican Norm Coleman's lawsuit over the result.

Franken attorney Marc Elias said he would file the motion for dismissal Thursday and hoped it would be argued publicly on Friday. Coleman attorney Ben Ginsberg characterized the move as "pawing of the ground and snorting of the breath."

Please never again juxtapose the words Ben Ginsberg and "breath" in a sentence...

"We're taking this one step at a time, but I anticipate that we're going to be happy with the court decision," Franken said.

Of Coleman's case, Franken said his opponent "has chosen to attack the Minnesota court system, to attack the elections officials and to try to erase Minnesota voters' votes. I know he's disappointed, but we've come through a fair election, a fair and very meticulous recount and we're going through now a very fair court challenge. I think it's time now that we address the people's business."

In his own comments to reporters on Tuesday, Coleman said the three-judge panel may not be able to determine who actually won. "Clearly there is a question about whether this court can certify who got the most legally cast ballots," he said.

Counting the days... Meanwhile, on behalf of everyone here at TPC, I'd like to thank Toker Norm for intentionally depriving his state of a (Democratic) U.S. Senator.