[classicman]

MINNESOTA:

“Norm Coleman said Tuesday that the three judges hearing the U.S. Senate recount trial will have to ponder whether they'll be able to decide who won the election,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. “Coleman … questioned whether the panel will be able to certify him or DFLer Al Franken as the candidate with more legitimate votes. ‘I think the court is going to have to reflect on that,’ Coleman said during a break in the trial, which is in its sixth week as he challenges recount results showing Franken ahead by 225 votes.”

“Coleman's team finished its side of the case on Monday -- the same day that Coleman attorney James Langdon wrote the judges to suggest that problems with the election were so serious that the panel may not be able to declare a winner. Franken's campaign began presenting its case on Tuesday in the St. Paul courtroom.”

The Pioneer Press adds, “Election law experts say ordering another election is not within the judges' purview -- a position strongly adopted by Franken's attorneys. ‘There is no precedent. There is no law. There is no statute. There is no rule. There is nothing in Minnesota that would suggest that one could simply suggest that one could simply start over again,’ said Franken attorney Marc Elias. He said the suggestion might reflect how the Coleman team believes their case went over the past six weeks. On Monday, the Republican's lawyers ‘provisionally’ rested their case, saying they wanted to give the court more information before resting completely.”

New DNC chairman Tim Kaine issued this statement responding to Coleman’s suggestion that it might be impossible to have a winner. “The people of Minnesota have spoken. It’s time for Norm Coleman to accept the voters’ decision, do what is best for his state and country and stop standing in the way of a Senator being seated. The stakes for our country are too high right now to suggest that the results of a democratic election, exhaustive recount, and legal proceedings be thrown out just because Norm Coleman doesn’t like the results.”