Election Update

Let's start with simple not insane (Blago is another post, thank you very much).

It appears that Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet has been chosen the replacement for Ken Salazar in Colorado and we have reports that Governor Paterson is leaning toward Caroline Kennedy.

No opinion on the first bit, but I still think that everyone is going to discover that Kennedy will be the 2nd coming of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for the 2010 elections, and the Republicans will take that seat.

There is also a difference between winning an election because of your lineage, and getting an appointment because of your lineage, and while I find both distasteful, my Congressman is Paul Sarbanes, I find the latter much more profoundly disturbing.

In Minnesota, which is not crazy central, because that is Springfield, Illinois, we have had some interesting developments:

First is that the 'Phants are threatening a filibuster against a provisional seating of Franken, despite the fact that they did this very same thing for Landrieu in the late 1990s, and they are using the Rod Blagojevich precedent "set" by Harry Reid as justification. (Thanks, Harry).

Also, the Coleman camp has pretty much ceded defeat in the current round, TheHill.com - Coleman team virtually guarantees lawsuit

Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) attorneys said Friday that there will be a legal challenge to the recount in the senator’s reelection race, and conceded that they are almost certainly the ones that will bring it.

“I think that an election challenge here is inevitable,” said Coleman lawyer Fritz Knaak, adding that there is “no doubt” in his mind.

Knaak then acknowledged that the actions of the state canvassing board will likely leave Democrat Al Franken ahead. Franken currently leads by 49 votes out of nearly 3 million cast.

That's a concession that Franken got more votes, and they are going to try for a Bush 2008 move, because unlike Florida, Minnesota is doing this in an honest way.

In the mean time, Coleman is filing, or threatening to file, lawsuits at the drop of a hat, calling the process "Invalid And Unreliable," unless they include about 650 additional ballots from Coleman strongholds. See also here and here.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has declined to take action on at least one of Coleman's claims, though they have made it clear that this is because it's premature, and not on the merits of the case, so that can hear it later.

The assessment at TPM Election Central, that this would likely prevent a resolution for weeks or months, is accurate, but that is a feature, not a bug, for the 'Phants.