MN Senate Trial Day 1: Sponsored By NoDoze
One big message from the first day in court for the longest-running Senate race of 2008: Sit tight, Minnesotans, it's going to be even longer than you thought.
Ben Ginsburg, attorney for GOP Sen. Norm Coleman - who has filed a lawsuit that's dragged the election out of the polls and into court - told reporters on a conference call this evening that after judges decided to subpoena thousands of rejected absentee ballots today, the case, already expected to take weeks, will be extended.
"It's gonna take a little bit longer now," Ginsburg said of the ruling.
The ballots are central to the Coleman case. Lawyers for the GOP senator say MN fails to present a uniform standard for accepting absentee ballots, and therefore some ballots might have been unfairly rejected across the state. The legal team is hoping that if the ballots are recounted by the court under a uniform standard created by the court, Democrat Al Franken's 225-vote lead in the race will disappear.
Other than the judge's ruling in favor of the Team Coleman request to subpoena all the absentee ballots cast in the race, the second biggest news from the first day of the trial was Coleman's appearance. The senator sat in court during opening arguments but said nothing and didn't take any questions from gathered reporters. The case continues tomorrow as thousands of ballots that Coleman's camp says were improperly rejected are read into the official record.
(EVAN McMORRIS-SANTORO)
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