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Franken Takes Lead in MN Senate Race

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:25:33 AM EST
Tags: Al Franken, Norm Coleman (all tags)
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This morning, Al Franken took the lead in the MN Senate race for the first time. He's ahead a few hundred votes. Counting may be done this evening.

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    Franken Takes Lead in MN Senate Race | 21 comments (21 topical)

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    woo-HOO! n/t (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by sallywally on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:32:30 AM EST


    I am waiting until (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by kenosharick on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:47:38 AM EST
    it is official. Boy, would a Franken win be great news!!!

    Good news would be nice right now (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 07:32:20 PM EST


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    Please let him win. (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Faust on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 12:14:57 PM EST
    I want it so bad.

    If nothing else just because it will drive Limbaugh and Oriely up the wall.

    Plus as an added bonus, you know, another Democrat in the Senate and stuff o_0

    personally, i thought it (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by cpinva on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 09:14:02 PM EST
    was kind of entertaining, when the coleman campaign was whining about franken insisting on a recount that was, by law, automatic. as if franken had anything to do with it, and he was just being difficult.

    is coleman and his campaign personnel really that stupid, or was that for the benefit of the stupid segment of the public?

    It Was For The Benefit... (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Blue Jean on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 11:59:28 PM EST
    ...Of the 24% of the population who think Shrub did a good job. ;-)

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    Hope it continues to go his way. We need to (none / 0) (#1)
    by Angel on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:29:19 AM EST
    get rid of Coleman.

    eeeee-HAH!!! (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:30:09 AM EST


    Would be a great win (none / 0) (#3)
    by mmc9431 on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:30:47 AM EST
    If anyone deserved to lose, it's Coleman. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I still don't understand why this was so close, when the presidential race wasn't. Obama's coat tails didn't seem to work too well.

    The 3rd party candidate... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:39:52 AM EST
    ...had a lot to do with the close outcome.  Minnesota politics are anything but predictable.

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    No kiddin (none / 0) (#6)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:40:31 AM EST


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    Thankfully MN is pretty (none / 0) (#12)
    by mg7505 on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 01:57:17 PM EST
    predictable when it comes to Presidential elections.

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    I guess Norm... (none / 0) (#8)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 10:57:26 AM EST
    ...will soon have more time on his hands to deal with his (and the wife's) legal issues.  

    And the fine people of Minnesota can turn their attention to more important things like snowmobiling, ice fishing, the Winter Carnival and perhaps finding someone who can beat Michele Bachmann.

    Happy Happy Day!!! (none / 0) (#9)
    by ruffian on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 11:03:45 AM EST


    i wouldn't get too excited (none / 0) (#10)
    by cpinva on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 11:05:46 AM EST
    just yet. even if franken does win on the recount, expect coleman's campaign to file multiple lawsuits, challenging every aspect of the race.

    This would be an amazing (none / 0) (#13)
    by mg7505 on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 02:05:06 PM EST
    holiday present. However, it raises serious questions about election accuracy -- I shudder to think that elections are not accurate down to the last vote. Technically a 0.001% margin of victory should be as secure a grounds for sending someone to office as a 10% margin.

    Is the verdict of this recount final? Can the loser still challenge? Regardless, I expect lawsuits from the losing campaign.

    I disagree (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by eric on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 03:05:06 PM EST
    this recount is a testament to the accuracy of our elections.  Of course, there is some human error as this is a human endeavor, but the recount has been orderly and focused on being as accurate as possible.  The law in Minnesota has guided this process very well.

    With that being said, the election was not perfect.  Some absentee ballots were rejected for the wrong reasons.  That we know about and will fix it.  Second, 133 ballots were lost and could not be recounted.  This was corrected by using the original count.

    Will there be legal challenges?  Possibly.  It depends on the margin.  I don't think these is a lot to challenge, though.  We have two Supreme Court Judges on the canvassing board, along with two senior district court judges.  It seems to me that it would be hard to get a court to second guess that panel.

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    The US Senate gets to decide (none / 0) (#17)
    by andgarden on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 03:20:53 PM EST
    At the end of the day, they practice MAD, so the person who's certified will likely be seated.

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    but . . . (none / 0) (#14)
    by txpublicdefender on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 02:27:36 PM EST
    That's the reason why they have things like automatic recounts when the victory margin is so slight--a recognition that human and machine error occurs, and a determination to get the correct results.  

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    Yes (none / 0) (#15)
    by CoralGables on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 02:54:33 PM EST
    and that is exactly what is taking place. Many ballots never get read by the computers because of stray marks or badly filled ovals (or once upon a time hanging chads). The automatic recount that kicks in lets the somewhat flawed but still valid ballots be counted to determine the true results.

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    Computer counting (none / 0) (#21)
    by Lora on Sat Dec 20, 2008 at 05:04:45 PM EST
    Many ballots get miscounted by computer because the electronic systems are remarkably error-prone.

    It is a good thing that there were actual paper ballots to recount.

    If the election had taken place on touch-screen machines there could not have been a verifiable recount.

    Parent

    Franken Takes Lead in MN Senate Race | 21 comments (21 topical)

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