Jan 25, 2009 10:46 pm US/Central
What Will Happen During Another Senate Trial?
(WCCO)
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Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page appointed three district court judges to decide the case: Elizabeth Hayden of Stearns County, Kurt Marben of Pennington County and Denise Reilly of Hennepin County. (File)
CBS
On Sunday, it was 83 days since the last vote was cast in the 2008 election. On Monday, the senate recount trial will begin decide who should be Minnesota's next U.S. Senator: Norm Coleman or Al Franken.
A three-judge contest panel will hear opening statements beginning Monday afternoon. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page appointed three district court judges to decide the case: Elizabeth Hayden of Stearns County, Kurt Marben of Pennington County and Denise Reilly of Hennepin County.
"The process that starts tomorrow in St. Paul really will resolve this contest, could take weeks, maybe even months, but a resolution is in the future," said political analyst Larry Jacobs.
It'll be a trial in front of the three-judge panel, with TV cameras present. So what exactly will it look like?
"It'll look like a trial, it just perhaps won't be as fast moving as one that gets wrapped up in an hour episode on TV," said Marc Elias with the Franken campaign.
In fact, Coleman trial attorney Joe Friedberg thinks it will be even more tedious than the canvassing board hearings. He may need to use a witness to introduce every rejected absentee ballot -- reading a description into the record -- 12,000 of them.
"The job that I'm performing, at that point, could probably be handled by a trained monkey. It will be very, very tedious. It will be very boring," Friedberg said.
It will also be very, very important.
Although Coleman will try to exclude ballots lost in a Minneapolis precinct, and duplicate ballots allegedly double-counted throughout the state, the best chance to win is by getting 12,000 absentee ballots re-considered.
"They've got to find a way to expand the scope of this contested election," said Jacobs.
That's why Coleman released a Web video and letter, putting pressure on Franken to support counting those unopened absentee ballots. But it could be a risky strategy.
"Key thing to remember here is every time you open an absentee ballot, you also create the chance that Al Franken will get a vote," Jacobs said.
However, Jacobs points out that whoever loses this trial could very well appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court, or even take it to the U.S. Senate itself.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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