Minnesota Lawyers
The Senate race between incumbent Norm Coleman and democratic challenger Al Franken was not expected to turn out as a task for Minnesota lawyers, but once the race was to close to call Norm Coleman needed a Minnesota lawyer and Al Franken needed a Minnesota lawyer. Both parties claimed that they were the victor and that the opposing side was grasping at straws. All Minnesota lawyers that were involved knew this was going to be a lengthy process.
• The Minnesota lawyer for Norm Coleman told the Minnesota Supreme Court that thousands of ballots had not been counted, but when Coleman’s Minnesota lawyer was asked to support that claim with evidence, he was unable to do so. There were several recounts and many court hearings ending at the state supreme court. This process went on for seven months making it the longest senate race in our nation’s history. Minnesotans waited and waited what seemed like forever to see who their other senator would be.
• Towards the end of the process it seemed clear that democratic challenger Al Franken was going to be the winner and that the rest of the proceedings were just semantics. However, both Minnesota lawyers stood firm on their case. Each Minnesota lawyer believed they had a fair chance. It was not until June of 2009 that a decision was made and Al Franken was elected the new senator of Minnesota. Both Minnesota lawyers put forth a huge effort for their clients. Senator Franken only won the election by a few hundred votes.
Minnesotans are very happy that the race is over. The situation was getting mass amounts of media attention and rightfully so. While there might have been some glitches in the Minnesota voting process and mistakes may or may not have been made by officials and justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court, it seemed that the process worked itself out and Franken came out as the victor. This should be a lesson to all politicians to never take a lead in the polls for granted. Franken was not favored in the beginning of the race and he ended up winning. This was a similar situation to the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Recounts and hearings take time and it can turn into a long and grueling process. The important issue is that the system works in the end so that the American people can choose a leader in a fair and bi-partisan way.