Coleman-Franken Update: It's Over (the Trial, That Is)

The trial part of Norm Coleman's contest of Al Franken's certification as the winner of the 2008 election for Norm's old Senate seat is now over.   The contest has now gone into the hands of the judges of the Election Contest Court, who will be spending the first part of next week having over a thousand rejected absentee ballots examined, opened, and otherwise handled to see if they can be added to the official vote count.  If all goes well, they could have a ruling ready by this time next week. 

Norm will likely appeal the ECC's ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court -- unless, of course, he's not able to do so.  As mentioned earlier, Franken attorney Marc Elias (who wore his lucky tie to court today) could ask the court to order the Coleman campaign to put the sum of the money they'll have to pay out in court costs when they lose -- which is at least $1.5 to $2 million, and very likely much more -- into an escrow account before any appeals can be filed.  In other words, they have to demonstrate their hind ends' ability to cash the checks they let their big mouths write.   The UpTake, of course, has the video for Coleman's and Franken's closing arguments.  (And if you haven't done so already, consider tossing a few shekels The UpTake's way.  They promise not to store your credit-card numbers on their servers!)