In the clearest sign yet that he has dramatically shifted strategies since falling behind in the U.S. Senate recount, Republican Norm Coleman's campaign said Monday that it will push to have all 12,000 absentee ballots rejected in the election reconsidered and to ensure that those wrongly set aside are counted.
The sweeping new proposal, Coleman attorneys said, could bring as many as 7,000 more ballots into the race in which DFLer Al Franken has held a 225-vote lead since the recount ended Jan. 5. And it illustrates the first pivotal task facing the three-judge panel that will hear, beginning this week, Coleman's court challenge to Franken's lead -- figuring out exactly how far-reaching the legal challenge should be.
The latest move also revealed the about-face both campaigns have made over the past month: When Coleman held an unofficial lead in the recount last month, his lawyers argued before the Minnesota Supreme Court that rejected absentee ballots should not be part of the recount. Now, with Franken holding a lead gained in part by successfully arguing to include some rejected absentee ballots, the Franken campaign reacted coolly to reconsidering all 12,000 rejected absentee ballots.