How Will Norm Coleman Keep Footing His Legal Bill?
Today, lawyers for Al Franken and Norm Coleman have offered their closing arguments in the Minnesota recount mess, and GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that he’s urging Coleman to take this battle all the way to the Federal courts.
This raises an interesting question: Who is going to foot Norm Coleman’s legal bill? If Coleman fights on, this could drag out for many more months. So we’re not talking about chump change here.
You’ll recall that the Coleman campaign’s Web site — which was being used to raise money for the case — suffered a bit of a technical snafu a while ago, leaving the credit card info of thousands of donors posted on the internet. The Coleman camp subsequently started raising money by asking for donors to send checks or donate by phone.
It seems possible, even likely, that after this foul-up, ordinary donors are not exactly going to be eager to shell out if it means sharing confidential info with the Coleman camp.
That means that the onus could fall on business groups worried about Dems reaching 60 seats and GOP party committees to come up with the money to fund Coleman’s appeal. Judging by McConnell’s comments, party leaders want this to drag on as long as possible — it keeps a key Senate seat vacant, after all.
So one key tell here will be whether the biz groups and national GOP will be willing to invest serious money in what appears to be an effort to prevent the seat from going to Dems for as long as possible. Either way, the money problem could be a serious one for Coleman.
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Anti-EFCA interests would seem to be the most obvious parties to hit up first.
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yeah, my understanding is that that’s a major source of the funding. my question is, how much are people willing to invest in postponing the inevitable…
greg
There are also Franken’s costs to take into account if Coleman loses and the likelihood, as Eric noted, that the Franken lawyers will move to force Coleman to put in escrow future costs for appeals (”millions”, Eric says)
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/03/minnesota-closing-arguments-tomorrow—-how-long-until-the-very-end.php
yeah, you’re right, bernie. that would be another major set back.
It’s all just so depressing.
I am pretty sure the GOP will be putting up more youtubes this weekend trying to fundraise for him during a recessijon just to keep the seat open. But didn’t the Franken camp question the FEC recently about the legality of that? The question I have is if the Minnesota Board of Elections will seat Franken should he win or wait until the appeals process is over.
norm is a bad investment. he did not make a case and playing
games with the court does not amuse judges. courts frown on
parties playing “hide the salami” in discovery.
no mon, no colemon
adios norm.
Yep. It’ll be a calculated gamble. If such a postponement keeps Al Franken out of the Senate long enough to scuttle EFCA, then it will have been worth it for them.
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That calculation is probably best delayed until after the MN trial-court’s ruling. (It’s plausible that they will direct that Franken be certified pending appeal.) The tea leaves are likely to be a lot more readable then.
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It’s my understanding that federal appeals do not delay certification, only the single automatic appeal to the state Supreme Court does. That seems to make it less likely that anyone’s going to fund Normie to take it all the way to the top.
Happy Hour open thread posted, all — funny attack ad therein.
http://tinyurl.com/bnd4jc
i seem to remember the supreme court intervening and stopping a recount and awarding that election
to ? how long can this b s go on?
franken won get over it
i’m serious does anyone know the legal-ease got to be an end to this sometime real soon
Nice site name
, and very informative content. Keep up the good work.
hello
reality
finally
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