| | CNN: Franken filibuster bluster just 'delaying the inevitable'?
 Sen. John Cornyn renewed on Monday a threat that Republicans will filibuster if the Senate attempts to seat Democrat Al Franken as the senator from Minnesota without a final certification from the state, which will not be available until all court challenges by the former Republican holder of that seat, Norm Coleman, have been exhausted.
"How much of this is just stalling, then, the inevitable?" CNN's Kiran Chetry asked Cornyn.
"There are the issues that have been raised in the Minnesota Supreme Court," Cornyn insisted, "about double-counted ballots and other irregularities in the process, which are important to make sure that every vote counts. ... The Coleman campaign still contends that there's about about 700 absentee ballots that were not counted and has pointed to the likelihood that about 133 ballots were double-counted in Franken's favor. So these sorts of issues need to be sorted out. The best place to do that's in court, where the rules of evidence apply."
Franken, who leads after the recount by 225 votes, is expected to be certified the winner when Minnesota's State Canvassing Board convenes at 2:30 this afternoon. That certificate would normally be signed within a week by the governor and secretary of state. However, under Minnesota law it cannot be signed until all court challenges by the Coleman campaign have been resolved, and the rules of the Senate prohibit Franken from being seated without the signed certificate.
"Are you just going to filibuster?" Chetry asked.
"That is the likelihood here if the Democrats try to ignore the Senate Rule 2 and Minnesota law," Cornyn replied.
This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast Jan. 5, 2008.
Download video via RawReplay.com
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