Ignoring Coleman's ballot challenges, Hannity claimed Franken is challenging ballots in MN to "litigate his way into the Senate seat"
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SUMMARY: Referring to the Minnesota Senate race recount on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity claimed Al Franken is challenging ballots "because he's trying to litigate his way into the Senate seat." But as of November 24, according to the office of the Minnesota secretary of state, Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman have challenged roughly the same number of ballots.
On the November 24 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, while discussing the Minnesota Senate race between Democratic candidate Al Franken and incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, which is now in a recount, co-host Sean Hannity said of Franken: "I have all of these different ballots that he's questioning that clearly are Norm Coleman ballots, clearly, and he's questioning them because he's trying to litigate his way into the Senate seat." However, in claiming that Franken is "trying to litigate his way" into the Senate through ballot challenges, Hannity is ignoring a central fact: as of November 24, Franken and Coleman have challenged nearly the same number of ballots. According to the office of the Minnesota secretary of state, as of 8 p.m. CST on November 24, Coleman had challenged 1,400 ballots, while Franken had challenged 1,401 ballots.
Additionally, while Hannity said Franken is challenging ballots that "clearly are Norm Coleman ballots," he did not mention that Coleman is challenging ballots that appear to be marked for Franken, as Media Matters for America documented. The Bemidji Pioneer reported on November 22:
Franken recount attorney Marc Elias waved copies of 10 southeastern Minnesota ballots, citing them as examples of frivolous Coleman challenges.
Most of the ballots showed the voter marked the oval next to Republican John McCain's name in the presidential race, and then picked Democrat Franken in the Senate contest.
Coleman recount observers apparently challenged the ballots because they thought a voter would not pick both McCain and Franken.
But Elias said that in his view each of the ballots was "a textbook example of how to fill out an optical scan ballot."
When a reporter handed Coleman Campaign Manager Cullen Sheenan copies of two of the ballots, even he agreed it looked like Franken was the voters' choices.
From the November 24 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
HANNITY: There's a very important runoff December 2nd in the state of Georgia. If Al Franken -- and I argue -- and I have all of these different ballots that he's questioning that clearly are Norm Coleman ballots, clearly --
MORRIS: Right. Right.
HANNITY: -- and he's questioning them because he's trying to litigate his way into the Senate seat. And my question is: So, if Saxby Chambliss doesn't win in Georgia, this gives them their magic number of 60.
MORRIS: Yeah. The Republican Party is dead at that point. It has no role at all to play because you won't have 60. You'll have 60 votes in the Senate for the Democrats. And I've been pushing very, very hard for a group called GOPTrust.com that is running $1 million of ads in Georgia to elect Chambliss and defeat the Democrat.
Now, in the last couple of days, some of the liberals have lashed back at me, claiming that somehow I'm getting paid by this group, but the fact is that all they've done is buy ads on my website, like they buy ads in The New York Times. And I'm no more in cahoots with them than The New York Times is.
And this has all been fully disclosed in their disclosure statements. But I won't be intimidated by those groups. It is crucially important that every American who cares about the free enterprise system go online as soon as this show is over and [co-host] Alan [Colmes] makes his announcement, and get online to GOPTrust.com and give Chambliss the money he needs to win. Your whole future depends on it.
COLMES: But are you fundraising for Chambliss by doing that?
MORRIS: Yes, darned right I am, and give to Chambliss, too. When the whole future of the country is at stake on this, darned right I'm fundraising for him.
It's ridiculous to challenge ballots filled out correctly as Coleman's campaign has done, but it's a head scratcher to figure what people were thinking when they picked McCain for prez, and Franken for Senate. Maybe they liked them both as comedians?
Or perhaps some voters in MN need more help than we think ;>)
Bring on the Norwegian jokes (i'm half) I have family & friends there(all Dems) , & from talking to them, the over 70 folks were leery of Franken and the younger ones enthusiastic about him)
"Mama, I have da biggest feet in da third grade. Is dat becoss I'm Norvegian?"
"No, it's because you're nineteen."
My post was more a poke at my Sister and Brother-in-Law, Minnesota residents for the last 30+ years than it was at any ethnic group. We are pretty tough on each other (family) when it comes to political leanings.
... it's a head scratcher to figure what people were thinking when they picked McCain for prez, and Franken for Senate. - mary59
All it would take is someone who is generally conservative in philosophy but is turned off by a corrupt candidate like Coleman.
I think there were more Obama-Coleman tickets than McCain-Franken tickets.
Which has no relevance to my point. I was simply indicating one good reason a voter might have for a McCain-Franken choice.
That's true I was just making a separate comment.
but it's a head scratcher to figure what people were thinking when they picked McCain for prez, and Franken for Senate.
Not really. They liked McCain, but thought Coleman was a crook, which he is. Makes perfect sense. There would have been more of these split votes, too, if the 3rd-party spoiler hadn't entered the scene.
"Coleman recount observers apparently challenged the ballots because they thought a voter would not pick both McCain and Franken."
Most voters would not pick McCain and Franken. If there was a huge percentage of that combination, that might raise a red flag. But pointing to a handful of ballots as being invalid for this reason is about as nakedly disingenuous as one can get, even in the world of politics.
You're right. I'm a registered dem, and always vote the ticket for the local dems, but in the past have split the ticket when casting my vote for the pres . . . To some that probably seems ridiculous, but I'm sure it's not all that uncommon
I periodically do so too. I'm most interested in the best person for the job. But I have to admit I'm confused about the intentions of someone who picked McCain and then Franken - were they trying to make up for their 1st choice?
Alan Colmes will not be missed on the Fixed Noise prime time.
An intern at MMFA can navigate to the Minnesota SOS's website and find the facts that refute the allegation, but an alleged liberal who's paid an insane salary to appear on television cannot??
Colmes knows that Franken is on the Fixed Noise **** list, but instead of informing himself as to what's going on, he's content to go into a debate completely unarmed like the cross-eyed moron he is.
But..., but..., he's a LIBERAL!!! We must love and protect him during his exposure to my good fellow American, Hannity the Greatest!
How do I hate thee let me count the ways.
Hannity an ex-bartender speaks for the drunks and misfits on the (snark alert) excellent news organization fox news
And Reagan was an actor. So was Schwartzenegger. How did either of them get to be Governor without conservatives giving them a pass?
Norm Coleman is a well respected senator by BOTH parties ... - sigtek44bc1345
Norm Coleman is a wishy-washy unprincipled corrupt embarrassment for the state. He flips parties and positions according to what he thinks will advance his own prospects at the drop of a hat. I'm not a big Franken fan but he would be a huge upgrade for the state as Senator as far as principles, ethics and positions on issues. (Maybe I shouldn't say positions on issues. Norm has demonstrated that he's willing to shift those quite casually.)
And Norm was the first to introduce litigation into the recount process.
Please tell me you are joking. There is so much crazy in your post I have no idea where to begin. Frankin thought he could ride Obama's coattails? How did he think that when he started running long before Obama was the nominee? What has Franken's campaign done that Coleman's camp hasn't when it comes to "litigating his chances"? Coleman has quite a bit of corruption hanging around his neck now so I can't see that either party thinks of him as a "Respected Senator". And the crazy just keeps on going...
Right-- and I think Franken was a bit of a Hillary fan, too....at least at first.
When the whole future of the country is at stake on this, darned right I'm fundraising for him.
Well then, why is FOX giving you free time in order to do this? That's the question of the month regarding this tack.
Isn't it deliciously ironic, Seany Pooh bitching about someone trying to "litigate his way into the Senate seat"? What does he think George W. Bush did in 2000?
Yeah!!
How dare he try to use democracy in this country!
The horror!