Posted on 11/25/2008 6:08:38 PM PST by re_tail20
The Great Minnesota Recount is almost three quarters complete and we’re generally comfortable with where things stand today.
The massive increases anticipated by the Franken campaign in St. Louis, Ramsey and Hennepin counties aren’t materializing. In fact, as reported in today’s St. Paul Pioneer Press, Senator Coleman seems to be gaining ground in traditionally Democratic areas:
But Minneapolis — the biggest, bluest pile of all — is turning that logic on its head. With nearly half of its ballots recounted, the city Franken calls home isn't doing the candidate any favors. And that could be dimming Franken's hopes of catching Coleman before the state canvassing board meets Dec. 16.
"Things are clearly moving in the wrong direction for Franken," said Larry Jacobs, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance.
With fewer than half of the ballots counted in Minneapolis, Franken has lost 86 votes, while Coleman has lost just 37. In other words, the city could be blunting any recount advantage Franken might have in the rest of the state as the recount rolls toward its Dec. 5 deadline.
(Jason Hoppin, “Franken losing ground to Coleman on DFL turf – Minneapolis,” Pioneer Press, November 25, 2008)
If this trend continues, especially over the next 24 hours, you can expect to see a continued steady increase of frivolous challenges by the Franken campaign as they try to take as many Coleman ballots out of the overall total to make it seem like the gap is closing.
Tomorrow the Canvassing Board will take up the issue of rejected absentee ballots. We fully expect that the board will follow the long history of precedent in referring these rejected absentee ballots to the courts where they are properly handled.
One last thing – a big thanks to our tireless volunteers and the dedicated election officials who have helped the recount process run smoothly. It is our expectation that the recount will continue to run smoothly, recounting the legally cast ballots, and become a textbook example of how a recount should be conducted.
That sounds like a tee shirt slogan, just waiting to be printed up for Minnesota folks.
Hope that Maroon Freaken loses bigger.
Well, it looks like Coleman will escape the recount with a lead. It looks like the board of elections will decided this based on the challenged ballots. I’m feeling slightly more confident about this race than I did a week ago.
I can’t believe it was even that close to start with. Franken is a lightweight, mentally speaking.
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Kind of like “rearranging the deck furniture on the Titanic....”
Thank you.
And some of the unbiased local talk radio hosts talk like both Coleman and the diapered one are whiners because of the way the recount has been handled by the two campaigns.
When it comes to Minnesota, outside of the venerable and honorable "Mr. Right", EVERYTHING is slanted to the left inclusive of middle of the road politically minded media.
Without Jason all would be lost via media directive in Minnesota.
I suspect that the real issue is not counting chads and ink bubbles, but how many of the ballots were fraudulently cast in the first place. The ACORNers seem to have been getting a free ride across the country. Just because Obama won is no reason why the system shouldnt be fixed for 2010. People should be obligated to register at the DMV or post office... and early voting should be limited to the weekend prior to election day.
good tag, btw
Color me skeptical. (Bookmarked.)
This is, after all, wishful thinking, and democrats are nothing if not desperate.
If Coleman wins, I hope that the “near death” experience will remind him that he would have won in a landslide if he was more truly conservative and not a RINO squish.
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