Free Republic

The three-judge panel assigned to oversee the upcoming recount trial between Norm Coleman and Al Franken heard arguments this afternoon on Franken's motion to dismiss the case. After lawyers for Republican Coleman and DFLer Franken made their cases, the judges said they would take the case under advisement. They gave no sign of when a decision would come. The trial is scheduled to begin Monday. Franken attorney David Burman argued today that both state law and the Constitutions of Minnesota and the United States limit what state courts may do in reviewing the recount, and that remaining issues should be...

In another twist in Minnesota's prolonged U.S. Senate race, Republican Norm Coleman's campaign has subpoenaed Secretary of State elections manager Gary Poser, claiming discrepancies between recount figures reported by local officials and those posted on the Secretary of State's website. Campaign attorney Tony Trimble said Coleman could have lost 10 to 15 votes because of changes the Secretary of State's office made to local recount figures. "It's a minor issue in the scheme of things," Trimble said. Still, in an election where final recount figures left Coleman trailing by only 225 votes, the subpoena underscores how he is leaving no...

- - Will Ask Three Judge Panel To Determine Which Ballots Were Wrongly Rejected ST. PAUL – Fritz Knaak, lead recount attorney for the Coleman for Senate campaign today made the following statement: “Next week begins an important step in getting to an accurate and valid number, and to determine who really won the 2008 United States Senate election. As we indicated at the end of the canvassing board proceedings, we believe the process was broken. And, one area where it clearly broke and has yet to be fixed is in the area of rejected absentee ballots. The discrepancies, problems...

Anyone following the recount has no doubt heard the bluster and bravado regularly coming from the Al Franken campaign. However, in recent days, Franken and his Washington legal team have seemed awfully desperate for a campaign that is trying to convince people they are winning. They have now tried to shove Al Franken onto the Senate floor through three separate venues – only be to be rebuffed and delayed because their effort clearly violates Minnesota law. Why, if they claim to have a lead, are they so desperately anxious to put Al Franken in a Senate seat? Simple: They know...

Al Franken filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court … that’s a bit like a bank robber stopping on his way out the door to ask the teller for a receipt.” That’s how an e-mail appeal for funds from the campaign of former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman described today’s legal move by the Al Franken campaign that asked the state’s high court to order the governor to issue an election certificate. In another response, Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak told reporters that Franken has gone beyond the “epitome of arrogance … [by] asking to go above the laws of our...

Democrat Al Franken was quickly turned down Monday when he asked Minnesota's governor and secretary of state to issue an election certificate that would let him take office in the Senate. In letters the campaign sent to Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, Franken's lawyers argued that a seven-day waiting period for issuing the certificate after an election has passed and he should get the signed certificate. But the state officials said their hands were tied by state law and they could not act. Franken led Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes after a statewide...

Here is video of Senate Majority Leader "Dingy" Harry Reid speaking on the floor of the Senate today saying that it is time for Sen. Norm Coleman to concede defeat. . . . (see video)

FOX "The O'Reilly Factor"Video: "Minnesota Madness" Segment Aired Friday, January 9, 2008       Bill and two Republican guests(1) discuss Hollywood’s and George Soros massive donations to elected “Porn-o-Rama” Franken. This includes, a rare and calculated move(2), by George Soros who personally held a large post-election Franken fundraiser at his residence in New York City to support Al in the ballot recount/contest(3). I wrote about and published the list of Hollywood/high profile Franken donors three days before this news piece, not that this was new Soros Shadow Party news for anyone that has closely followed/been involved in this Coleman-Franken fiasco....

Alan Page, the former NFL star and Minnesota Supreme Court justice who will choose the panel of judges that will effectively determine the next senator of Minnesota, is a staunch critic of the controversial method used to decide which absentee ballots would be included in the recount – a major complaint of GOP Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign. State law says the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Paul Magnuson, should appoint the three-judge panel to hear Coleman’s appeal. Magnuson, however, served on the Canvassing Board that issued many of the rulings that the three-member panel will be asked to...

- - Former GOP MN secretary of state says absentee ballots should not have been included in recount Former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer is now criticizing the handling of the U.S. Senate election recount in the race between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman that ended with Franken on top. Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, now a freshman state representative from District 16B, did not speak publicly about the recount while it was ongoing, but is willing to talk about it now that the results are certified and the dispute has moved into the courts. Kiffmeyer, who from 1999 to...

George Soros is the biggest sugar daddy of the Democratic Party, and naturally wants to ensure that the Democrats have a monopoly of power in America. Recently, I wrote an article for American Thinker on the role that George Soros has played in helping the Democrat Al Franken in his race against the Republican incumbent Norm Coleman for a Senate seat in Minnesota. However, there may be one other reason that Soros was determined that Norm Coleman in particular lose his seat. This was personal. Norm Coleman was the chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and as...

Send in the Clown It sounds like the plot of a 1990s straight-to-video Hollywood flick, but barring any dramatic developments – such as a successful court challenge by Republican opponent Norm Coleman – former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and comedian Al Franken will become the next U.S. Senator from Minnesota, likely on the strength of fraudulent votes. Franken’s fitness for office has been a matter of debate ever since he announced his candidacy in February 2007. Having made a career of “debunking” provocative statements made by famous conservatives in books like Rush Limbaugh Is a Big, Fat Idiot, The...

The highly publicized vote recount in the Minnesota Senate race between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman is shining a light on Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, the state’s chief election officer. Ritchie is chairman of the Minnesota Canvassing Board, which on Monday certified that Franken received 225 more votes than Coleman did. Ritchie gave partial credit for his 2006 election to a liberal 527 group, the Secretary of State Project, which says its goal is to “ensure fair, clean elections” by replacing conservative secretaries of state with liberal Democrats. “I want to thank the Secretary of State...

By now, just about everyone knows that IL Governor Rod Blagojevich has reportedly been caught on tape as saying that “Obama's Senate seat was “*expletive deleted* valuable” and that “it wasn't something to be given away for free”. The scenario is that ‘Blago’ - as he is called by both supporters and opponents - was being taped by the Feds as part of another investigation. And, if true, just about everyone concluded, among other descriptors, ‘how stupid’ ‘Blago’ must be. But now, ‘Blago’ has shown he can also be ‘politically clever’. Rather than wait to see what the Feds will...

While Al “Globull Fraud” Gore continues to make the following public statement: "Washington needs a breath of fresh air. Al Franken is a great man, a great activist, and will be a great leader in the U.S. Senate" … it is important to remember the real Al Franken. The fact is Franken has been an unsuccessful hack his entire life. His only “accomplishment” in life was video taping sex with Arianna “The Greek Leona Helmsley” Huffington. Now Franken, and the Democrats-Soros Shadow Party, wants America to believe that “the new Al” is fit to be a U.S. Senator of...

12.10.08 VIDEO: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie discusses the Recount of the 2008 Senate Race in Minnesota between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. These remarks are part of a forum held on "The Minnesota Tradition of Fair Elections" hosted by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. 12.12.08 VIDEO: Ritchie On Counting Improperly Rejected Absent Ballots # # # # # 11.20.08 VIDEO: Minnesota Majority (Standing Together for Traditional Values) blasts commie Soros puppet SOS Mark Ritchie. Announce they are filing a formal complaint with the U.S....

This lowers the bar nicely for the Coleman campaign ... Taking the state Canvass Board's Friday lecture to heart, Franken's campaign says they will submit no more than 500 challenges Tuesday. From their Sunday afternoon press release: Two days after members of the state canvassing board issued an urgent plea for campaigns to withdraw additional challenges in order to allow them to finish their work in a timely fashion, the Franken campaign today announced that it would have fewer than 500 challenges remaining for the board to consider on a ballot-by-ballot basis when it meets on Tuesday.

Minnesota Democrats-Farmer-Labor Party(DLF) Founders Day Like MN Secretary of State Mark “Soros Puppet and former? Communist Party Member” Ritchie(D), Al “Globull Fraud” Gore delivers DLF keynote rally speech for Al Franken * * VIDEO * * (15 minutes) October 4, 2008 <> Gore on Franken - "Washington needs a breath of fresh air. Al Franken is a great man, a great activist, and will be a great leader in the U.S. Senate" Ticket prices to attend Gore’s DLF keynote speech were $25 to $500. Gore’s speaking honorarium was $35,000

NewsMax: Left-wing billionaire George Soros is hosting a fundraiser on Thursday night to help Democrat Al Franken win the recount in Minnesota’s Senate election. The gathering at Soros’ Manhattan home will raise money to help Franken’s campaign cover the cost of monitoring the statewide recount. “The special guest: Al Gore, who knows a thing or two about recounts,” the New York Post reports. Republican Sen. Norm Coleman leads Franken by just over 200 votes at last count, out of 2.9 million cast. The results of the hand recount are not expected to be released until mid-December. Coleman remains confident. His...

The campaign is over, but Norm Coleman and Al Franken still want your money. The bitter U.S. Senate campaign between Republican incumbent Coleman and DFL challenger Franken was the most expensive race in the country this year, to the tune of $32 million ($10 million more than the next most expensive race). But with an equally bitter recount going on, and with hundreds of volunteers for both camps swarming the recount sites to oversee the proceedings, both campaigns still have their hands outstretched, looking for donations to help pay for the costs associated with the recount – feeding and housing...