FRANKEN HOLDING LEAD
Yesterday, the state canvassing board unanimously approved a spreadsheet reflecting the final disposition of nearly 3 million votes cast in the U.S. Senate race. With all challenges reviewed and all ballots allocated, Al Franken leads Norm Coleman by 49 votes. A winner is expected to be declared next week after improperly rejected absentee ballots have been included in the count.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gMpTmr96V5hKIfyHT4Av4jsVQgrQD95DCH680
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36877849.html

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER COLEMAN CAMPAIGN ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE COUNTING OF IMPROPERLY REJECTED ABSENTEE BALLOTS
The Coleman campaign today sought to stop the ongoing process in which improperly rejected absentee ballots are reviewed, with Coleman attorney Tony Trimble claiming in a letter that the process “will yield an invalid and unreliable election result.” This weekend, the Coleman campaign rejected an offer by the Franken campaign to count all 1,350 absentee ballots identified by local elections officials as improperly rejected, making the nonsensical contention that these are all “Franken ballots.” Instead, they have tried to have counted a separate set of 650 ballots which the Associated Press found “skew heavily toward suburban and rural counties where [Coleman] did best in the election.”
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/12/31/1728513.aspx
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/coleman_okays_counting_ballots.php

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP: COLEMAN CAMP REJECTS ELECTION JUDGE BALLOT… WHO VOTED FOR COLEMAN
This morning’s Star Tribune reported representatives for Senator Coleman blocked a ballot from Duluth election judge Shirley Graham – whose husband and ballot witness used to work for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office. Graham revealed to the Star Tribune that she in fact voted for Norm Coleman.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36907934.html

REPUBLICANS SOUR ON NORM COLEMAN’S CHANCES
The Huffington Post reports that right-wing websites are starting to note that the doors are closing on Norm Coleman’s chances of winning the recount.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/31/conservatives-preparing-f_n_154386.html

KEY POINTS

• We are nearly at the end of what has been a long but fair recount process. Each step has been conducted carefully and in full view of the public, and we have seen public servants from the state canvassing board down to local elections officials perform a great deal of good work under significant pressure. And, at the end of that process, we believe that Al Franken will hold a lead over Norm Coleman, and will be declared the winner of the election.
• Claims by the Coleman campaign that some ballots have been counted twice are not supported by any evidence. The Coleman campaign efforts to obstruct and delay the process are merely attempts to start the recount over from scratch, a process which could drag on for months. However, there is no reason to believe that a re-recount would yield any different result.
• The Coleman campaign has already said that, when it is officially declared to have lost the election, it will file an election contest, seeking to have the result overturned in court. That is their legal right. But the millions of dollars a lawsuit would cost won’t change the result. Meanwhile, if declared the winner and seated by the U.S. Senate, Al Franken will go to work in Washington on behalf of the people of Minnesota.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.