Franken campaign officials said Saturday that Coleman officials are trying to "deprive Minnesota voters of their civil rights."



Andy Barr, Franken's communications director, said in a statement: "Ever since the routine process of canvassing to ensure that every vote is counted began, the Coleman campaign has been attempting to obstruct it. And, in typical fashion, they have now gone to court to shut down the count. This stealth attack on an early Saturday morning is a disgusting attempt to disenfranchise voters who did nothing wrong, and we will fight hard on behalf of Minnesotans who deserve to have their voices heard."

So far it isn't working but Coleman has made it perfectly clear that he doesn't agree with Al Franken that every single legally cast vote must be counted. He's demanded that the state stop counting the ballots sent in by our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines stationed overseas. These Republicans should all be horsewhipped! Why is he so hysterical? Easy: his tiny 700 vote lead has now shrunk to a 221 advantage and it keeps getting tinier and tinier as counties recheck their numbers and scrutinize each ballot.If Coleman is prevented from his anti-democratic tactics of getting votes thrown out and disenfranchising more people-- a GOP specialty-- he looks like he's headed to certain-- and well-deserved-- defeat. A huge number of undervotes-- votes registered for the presidential race but not for the Senate race-- occurred in three counties, which are all Democratic Party strongholds: Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis counties.Coleman will sue over every vote and hope he winds up with a partisan right wing judge to rule in his favor. His goal, of course, is to get the case into the most ideologically extremist court in the country, the horrid Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Minnesota. It's a classic case of a repulsive stacked court. Bush appointed 7 of its 11 members-- all far right loons-- and 2 of the other 4 are also GOP-appointed extremists. There's no chance Minnesota voters would get a fair shake in this Torquemada-like excuse for a court. Expect him to eventually claim that Minnesota's Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, stole the election for Franken. Anyone who knows Norm Coleman knows one thing for sure: the man has no honor, no dignity and is the Senate's biggest cheat. Franken may not be a real progressive like Jeff Merkley but he will be a reasonable moderate with an open mind a far cry from the knee-jerk conservative Coleman has proven himself to be. And with Jon Kyl already vowing to use the filibuster to block Obama's program, it is more crucial than every to make sure that if Coleman goes back to Washington, it's as a K Street lobbyist and not as a senator.

Labels: Al Franken, Minnesota, Norm Coleman, voter fraud