| | Franken camp less bullish on chance of Senate intervention
Update:Search for missing ballots suspendedBefore last week's Georgia run-off election squashed Democrats' hopes of a 60-vote majority in the Senate, Al Franken's campaign made no secret about the fact they were mulling asking the Senate to step in if things didn't go their way in the Minnesota recount.
Now that Republicans are guaranteed a filibuster-worthy caucus, the chances for a Democratic intervention have dimmed, and Franken's campaign is taking a few steps back from their previous outlook.
Franken attorney Marc Elias, speaking to reporters on a conference call Monday, said his previous assertion that the campaign may appeal to the Senate to appeal for inclusion of some disputed absentee ballots was simply a "paraphrasing" of options that had been laid out by a state judge.
"We've said consistently," he said, "we're taking this one step at a time."
With Democrat Jim Martin losing in Georgia last week, some observers suggest that moderate Senate Democrats will prevent an intervention without the tantalizing prospect of a filibuster-proof majority spurring them into action.Ballot search suspendedMeanwhile, officials have suspended a search for an envelope containing 133 ballots that has gone missing from a Minneapolis precinct since Election Day. Earlier Monday, the Franken campaign urged state officials to invalidate a recount in the affected precinct if the ballots were not found.
A city spokesman told the Associated Press that officials handed a state canvassing board two sets of results from the affected precinct, one of the recounted ballots and another from Election Day, when the 133 were included. The board meets Friday.
Elias said he would "urge" the board to use the Election Night count from that heavily Democratic precinct in the state's final tally. While searching for the missing envelope over the weekend, Minneapolis officials discovered 12 overseas military absentee ballots; Elias said those ballots should be included in the count.
Developments in the Minnesota recount, where Franken is attempting to oust Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, were fairly mundane, otherwise. The Franken campaign is dropping its challenge of approximately 425 ballots and urging the inclusion of a dozen absentee ballots officials in Minneapolis discovered over the weekend.
Officials in many Minnesota counties on Monday began sorting rejected absentee ballots into several piles, separating those that were rejected for four legitimate reasons described in state law from a "fifth pile" of ballots whose reason for rejection was improper or unclear. The Franken campaign hopes to have this fifth pile of votes included in the recount.
Election officials in Minnesota have completed a hand recount of more than 2.4 million ballots cast in the race between Democrat Franken and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. Franken campaign attorney Marc Elias told reporters Monday he was optimistic that the 133 missing Minneapolis ballots would be found, although he did for the first time entertain the possibility they would not turn up.
Elias said some counties were not separating their absentee ballots into five piles, as a state canvassing board has requested. He did not identify the scofflaw counties or discuss possible legal recourse to force compliance with the separation requests.
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