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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

Harry Reid’s office weighs in on the new Senate timeline…

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Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has set a new timeline for the recount in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race. He said there isn't any way that they'll finish their work before the end of 2008 and may even still be working to declare a winner on January 6th, the same day the Senate will swear in its new members. I called the spokesman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to see if the Senate was ok with the process. Here's how he responded:

"It's perfectly acceptable for us to just wait to seat somebody until somebody is certified by the state."

He also dismissed any notion that Gov. Pawlenty could appoint someone. He said the Senate would have to declare a vacancy first which he said the body is unlikely to do.