The latest news from the legal-challenge phase of the recount (aka Norm’s Long Goodbye) is that Al Franken’s people tried a little Hail Mary of their own, in the form of a request to Minnesota’s governor, Tim Pawlenty, to sign the election certificate — a request which Pawlenty couldn’t have honored, even if he’d wanted to (which he doesn’t) :

“I have a duty to follow state law and our statutes are clear on this issue,” Pawlenty said in a statement his office released early Monday afternoon. “I am prohibited from issuing a certificate of election until the election contest in the courts has been resolved.”

Smilin’ Tim is right on this count, as the statutes show.   In fact, Mark Ritchie had to issue a rebuke to the Franken team over this (h/t Jeff Fecke):

Minnesota law is very clear on when a certificate of election can be issued. Neither the governor nor I may sign a certificate of election in the U.S. Senate race until all election contests have reached a final determination. Even if the governor issues a certificate of election prior to the conclusion of the contest phase, I will not sign it.

Of course, Ritchie’s very public chastising of the Franken team will not stop the right-wing amateur sleuths over at Powerline from trying to paint Ritchie and Franken as somehow being in cahoots (h/t Robin Marty):

Our request seeks documents relating to communications between Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie or his office and the Franken campaign….My guess, however, is that Ritchie’s coordination with Franken’s campaign occurred at in-person meetings that lack documentation in the records of the Secretary of State’s office.

In other words, there’s no evidence that they’re in cahoots, and there’s unlikely to be any evidence they’re in cahoots, but why let that get in the way of a good smear?