Meehan legal snafu drags on

It appears Pennsylvania Republican Pat Meehan jumped the gun in trying to have the challenge to his nominating petitions dismissed.

On Thursday, an attorney for Meehan filed a motion to dismiss the challenge based on the fact that the campaign had not yet been served with a copy of the complaint.

The Meehan camp's motion claimed that Commonwealth Court procedures required the four Republican petitioners to serve Meehan with the complaint by 5 p.m. Wednesday. In fact, Meehan doesn't have to be served until 5 p.m. on March 29 -- nullifying the initial grounds for dismissal.

James Colins, Meehan's attorney and a former Commonwealth Court judge, acknowledged to local reporters that that the finding "would make my motion moot," but noted he would wait for a court ruling on it. He added, "But it still doesn't add any credibility to the petition to remove [Meehan] from the ballot."