Premium Sponsor

Featured Sponsor

Our Sponsors

Ad Networks

Buy an ad on all of the top liberal blogs with just one click.

Site Stats

MN-Sen: Getting Tighter

by: James L.

Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 9:09 PM EST

Last night, Hans Cole-Man was leading Al Franken by 477 votes. Of course, for the dickface that is Norm Coleman, that margin was good enough to ask Al Franken to waive the mandatory recount requirement and just call it day right there.

But the Minnesota Secretary of State has been updating its final results tally during the day, and Cole-Man's lead keeps getting smaller:

9:15 AM
Coleman: 1,211,520
Franken: 1,211,077
10:15 AM
Coleman: 1,211,525
Franken: 1,211,088
1:20 PM
Coleman: 1,211,527
Franken: 1,211,190

And right now?

Coleman: 1,211,542
Franken: 1,211,306

236 votes. I think we'll wait for all the ballots to be properly counted before we declare your victory, Norm. You dickface.

James L. :: MN-Sen: Getting Tighter

Tags: MN-Sen, (All Tags)

Print Friendly View

Send As Email

MN-Sen: Getting Tighter | 24 comments

I just hope that

James L can really not hold back and speak his mind. You seem so inhibited!

I would call Norm Coleman a prick, but a prick has a head on it.

by: Tarheeman1993 @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 20:22:09 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I'd Just Love to See This Weasel Get Taken Over....

...especially after the way he's handled the recount issue thus far. Typical Norm.

by: Mark @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:10:34 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

If Franken pulls ahead

I fully expect Norm to "back off" and halt the recount.

by: DavidNYC @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:30:42 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Been following this all day

It seems even when this does go to a recount that the machines used in the Minneapolis area are susceptible to reading errors. Therefore Franken might pick up some more votes there if he doesn't get enough from this review.

by: Progressive America @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 20:28:11 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Coleman has gotten 22

While Franken has gotten 229. I'm not sure where the ballots are coming from, but that's a 10:1 ratio.

by: sulthernao @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 20:32:29 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Probably Minneapolis or St. Louis County.

There's generally alot of refining of numbers in those as well as alot of rural counties in the days after the election in Minnesota, almost always to Democrats' benefit.

by: Mark @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:03:29 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

No Lessons In Humility

Apparently the Normster didn't learn the first rule of being a politician: be humble in victory or defeat.

He should take some lessons from Gordon Smith, who today realizing that his lead has evaporated, conceded the race to Democrat Jeff Merkley, making him the 6th new Democratic Senator.

I have one final question: why doesn't your country just use paper ballots marked with pencils like in Canada? Canada is so huge, yet we are able to tell who won or lose within like half an hour after the polls close.

by: Don't Tase Me, Bro! @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 20:51:23 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

In America we do the things the hard way

and we like it too!

by: Kanamit @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 20:53:21 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

No Offense

But the 'hard way' has now resulted in this clusterfuck of undeclared races that could take weeks to resolve. Not to mention the potential of widespread voter fraud from using electronic voting machines that may result in the unfair election of certain Republican or Democratic Senators, or even Presidents.

You know, guys like Coleman and George Bush?

by: Don't Tase Me, Bro! @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 20:55:23 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

It was a joke ;)

by: Kanamit @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:06:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Yeah, I Could Tell After I Responded

by: Don't Tase Me, Bro! @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:52:24 PM CST

[ Parent ]

You are aware

That things are done differently from county to county, or even town to town, right? The US uses a huge variety of different systems. One of the most common is exactly as you describe - optical scan.

by: DavidNYC @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:32:18 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Start Small

Maybe if one or two states started on their own to adopt a paper ballot system, the rest might eventually catch up to the idea.

I understand from the history of the United States that that was how elected Senators came into being. It was Oregon who started electing Senators and eventually the rest followed suit.

Oh well, maybe I'm being too idealistic.

by: Don't Tase Me, Bro! @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:54:04 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

The Tradition In Minnesota Races....

....is for Democrats to rein in more votes as the i's are dotted and t's are crossed in the counting process for the two days following the election, so it's not surprising that Franken has closed the gap so much. With that said, the numbers are usually finalized by the Thursday evening after the election, meaning Franken probably has to count on the recount to make up the difference.

by: Mark @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:02:21 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

might it?

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:11:22 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

In 2004 Rossi lead by 261 votes in WA-Gov

But Gregoire won by 129 votes after 2 recounts. About the same number of people voted in WA-Gov in 2004 as MN-SEN in 2008

So Franken is definitely still in this for the long haul.

by: politicalmetrics @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:49:18 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Come on

Let's win this race. I really hope we pull this out.

by: Populista @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 21:59:11 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

"124" was entered as "24"

Not Hennepin County, or St. Louis County. But Pine County, where a sleepy person shorted Franked by 100--"24" instead of "124."

There's a GREAT article in today's Star Tribune. It explained why the numbers have changed, the current steps, and the next steps:
http://www.startribune.com/pol...

Money quote:
"...on average, about two of every 1,000 ballots are not counted by the scanners for various reasons, which could add 6,000 ballots in the Senate race -- more than enough to provide a decisive result."

Important note: The Secretary of State Project in 2006 helped elect a DFL Secretary of State in Minnesota. Very important now!!!

by: ChuckInSeattle @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 23:07:24 PM CST

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Secretary of State Project

They had a good night. We won all four SOS races - WV, MT, OR and MO.

by: ChadInFL @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 23:13:32 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Good to hear

I'm starting to wonder if Secretaries of State should be focused more on the governors.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.

by: TheUnknown285 @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 23:17:35 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

EVERY seat counts.

:)

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway: http://www.washingtonmonthly.c...

by: Glenn Magus Harvey @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 23:51:58 PM CST

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.