Senate to try to seat Franken

Posted at 5:24 PM on January 21, 2009 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's no joke: Senate Democrats are moving toward letting comedian Al Franken join the chamber while Republican Norm Coleman's election lawsuit is pending. "We're going to try to seat Al Franken," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters on Wednesday, a few hours before he posed with Franken for photos just off the Senate floor. "There's not a question in anyone's mind, an assertion by anyone, that there's been any fraud or wrongdoing in this election." Coleman's lawyers are challenging the results of the election and the re-count in a trial set to begin in state district court on Monday. A three-judge panel that will hear the case is considering Franken's argument to dismiss it altogether. Franken finished the re-count ahead by 225 votes. But Coleman's campaign said it will push for a review of all 12,000 absentee ballots that were not counted in the race. Coleman's attorneys said the new proposal could bring as many as 7,000 ballots to the race. Reid did not say when Franken would be seated provisionally, but he said the two were meeting to hash out the agenda and Franken's committee assignments. (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

UPDATE: This was sent to me from Harry Reid's spokesman:

Franken will soon be the next Senator from the great state of Minnesota. Weeks ago, the bipartisan Minnesota state canvassing board has fairly counted all votes and certified Al Franken as the winner. It is important that we start talking about the issues important to the people of Minnesota so their new Senator can hit the ground running. We will talk today about:

our economic recovery plan to strengthen our economy now and strengthen our nation in the long term; and
on which committees Mr. Franken can best serve his constituents and the country.

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Comments (3)

Well, he did win the election. Seat him, and let the lawyers continue to battle in court. Either way, Franken won the most votes.

Posted by Aaron | January 21, 2009 5:39 PM

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Won't the Republicans just fillabuster him? Why bother? Seems like forcing the Reps to block the move kinda goes against the current "let's all get along" spirit.

Posted by Brian | January 21, 2009 7:19 PM

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WASHINGTON (AP) - It's no joke:

Boy, national media reporters beginning every single article on Franken's campaign for the last five years with "It's no joke" and "Yes, he's serious" will never get old!

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! So funny!

Posted by Chris | January 21, 2009 10:30 PM

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