Hundreds of additional ballots would also have to be reconsidered under the [Coleman] campaign’s request [to the Minnesota Supreme Court.] “We’re talking about enfranchising people,” said Coleman recount attorney Fritz Knaak.

But a recount attorney for Franken said that his campaign would fight the move and was confident it would fail. “They are now back ... asking for a do-over” even though the process ordered by the Supreme Court is nearly finished, said Marc Elias, a Franken attorney. “We’re simply not prepared to allow them to rewrite those rules,” he said.

. . . Trading places

The Coleman campaign’s court petition underscored the irony that the campaigns have largely traded positions on counting additional votes. For weeks, while Coleman held an unofficial lead, it was the Franken campaign that daily decried the danger of disenfranchising voters. Now, with Franken ahead, it is Coleman’s troops who are mainly calling for more rejected ballots to be considered.

Coleman’s aim is “bringing in ballots that were wrongly excluded,” attorney Knaak said Wednesday. “I heard it a hundred times from the Franken campaign.” In addition to the 1,346 absentee ballots already identified by counties as wrongly rejected, the Coleman campaign in recent days has asked counties to review another 654 rejected absentee ballots that may be legitimate. Some counties have agreed to the request, while others have not.

It seems clear that a certified winner will not emerge anytime soon.

Speaking for me only