Also, there is the possibility again small, of so-called “faithless electors” giving Trump a pass. If something like that happens, from Clinton’s perspective, it would be nice if even one of these states flipped (most likely Wisconsin).

So, to keep track of the numbers, here are the current vote values prior to any recount. I’m not too sure about Wisconsin because the Wisconsin Secretary of State does not actually provide the numbers to the general public, which I’m guessing is a violation of their state’s statute or constitution, but hell, that’s Wisconsin for you. The Louisiana of the North, they call it these days.

Friday, November 25th

Michigan (16 electoral votes): 10,704 (0.2%)
Wisconsin (10 electoral votes): 27,257 (0.9%)
Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes): 70,638 (1.2%)

On the electors: Some will claim that an elector is somehow rigging, violating, or otherwise besmirching the process by not voting for the candidate that won their state’s popular vote. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The electors are carrying out a duty in service of the United States Constitution, and and the Constitution does not stipulate that they vote for the majority in their state.

There have been so-called “faithless electors” — those that do not follow that state mandated rule — in the past, and they were never fined or otherwise prosecuted for violating state statute. There is, as I understand it, a reason for that. The state laws that tell an elector how to vote are so blatantly unconstitutional that even a right wing judge whose corrupt brother in law was the candidate harmed by the elector could not possibly uphold the law under an appeal. If a faithless elector was taken to court, and that case was challenged (which it would be), the entire edifice would instantly crumble and the electoral college would have to start to function like it did in the old days.

And, how is that, you ask?

Well, in their Enlightened wisdom, the Founding Fathers, who are today revered, even fetishized, by the likes of the Tea Party and the Sage Brush Rebellion and all the other yahoos, deemed the unwashed masses — the yahoos — unfit to vote for President (or Senator for that matter). The Electors are supposed to be your betters, who will make the decision for you. And, soon, possibly by the time of the next election, this is how we shall start to do things.

Or maybe not the next presidential election, but if the electoral system is tossed aside this year (Wisconsin shifts so the vote becomes 280-242 and 11 electors dump Trump so the vote becomes 269-253) and the election goes to the House of Reprehensible to decide, you can bet on change happening over the next few years, though it will probably come in the form of a bunch of state laws that continue to fly under the Constitutional radar screen.

This will not affect former Senator Norm Coleman’s strategies, because the will of the people is of no concern to him. Coleman will continue with the State Supreme Court appeal, and when he loses there (and he will) he will continue on to the US supreme court. Coleman’s strategy is to delay the seating of Franken for as long as possible. Why? Because Coleman is under various Federal and Senate investigations and owes a huge pile of money for the legal costs of this recount. He needs the Republican party to help pay off some of these debts (to the extent that they can … they may not be able to help much give their overall loss of support) and to yield their political clout to blunt the effects of some of these investigations (which of course, they can’t really do but Norm has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer and probably does not know this).

It is now time for Republicans whose careers are not over to stop openly releasing statements supporting Coleman. Personally, I don’t care whether they do this or not. What I’m saying is that you will stop seeing the support Pawlenty and others have been mouthing over the last few months. Furthermore, this latest poll is likely to prompt Pawlenty to issue an election certificate once appeals have been exhausted at the state level, possibly in July.

The state Supreme Court proceedings being in June.

Public fatigue with the Senate contest, now nearing the end of its sixth month, reverberates through the poll’s findings.

Although 57 percent of Republican poll respondents approve of Coleman’s appeal to the state Supreme Court, the same portion of Republicans want him to quit should he lose there.

Half of all Democrats polled also think Franken should concede if Coleman wins before the state high court, while only 38 percent prefer that the DFLer take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Independents would be more patient with a Franken appeal than one by Coleman, but a majority of that group think that either should call a halt once the Minnesota court rules.

Source of poll: Star Tribune.

The judges indicated to Coleman that additional fines would be charged if his shenanigans continue. They also indicated that “In the event this sanction fails to deter future conduct on the part of [Coleman’s] counsel, the court will not hesitate to impose harsher sanctions, up to and including dismissal [of the case].”

The essence of the unethical behavior by Coleman: Republican election judge Pam Howell had been on the sand a couple of times last week, but was pulled off the stand as the result of documents she secretly passed to the Coleman lawyers. The crux of her testimony seemed to be unverified hearsay about a Souh Minneapolis (= Democratic) election judge stuffing a ballot box. But the Coleman camp and Republican Howell also seem to have bee in cahoots, and worked out the exposure of evidence that seemed to (ineffectively) support Coleman’s claim, but the suppression of evidence having the contrary effect.

The Franken side begins its arguments today, and is expected to call hundreds of voters (quickly, they claim) to the stand to state that their absentee votes were not counted, and to have testamony from some election officials as well.

The court contest so far, while Coleman’s team had the helm, has resulted in several changes to the actual election count, but wiht a shift in favor of Franken instead of Coleman. It seems that part of the Franken strategy is to demonstrate how relatively easy it would be to increase the Franken lead even more … by a couple of hundred votes, perhpas. The other outcome of the Coleman effort has been to throw the entire election into doubt suggesting that it be thrown out. However, this claim seems to be without merit, and the Franken team now has the chance (and responsibility) to demonstrate this.

Soucres:

MinnPost
Star Tribune