WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press is uncalling the Minnesota Senate race.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman finished ahead of Democrat Al Franken early Wednesday in the final vote count, but his 571-vote margin falls within the state’s mandatory recount law. That law requires a recount any time the margin between the top two candidates is less than one-half of one percent.
The AP called the race prematurely.
Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said the recount won’t begin until mid-November at the earliest and will probably stretch into December. It will involve local election officials from around the state.
Associated Press:
Does anyone know how much the recount will cost us taxpayers? Does anyone know the cost to taxpayers of a special election to replace a senator who has to resign his post due to malfeasance? Thoughts like these are starting to cross my mind.
FYI:
ST. PAUL - Coleman for Senate Campaign Manager Cullen Sheehan released the following statement early this morning regarding Senator Norm Coleman’s re-election to the United States Senate by the people of Minnesota:
“The Senator is thrilled and humbled to be given the opportunity to serve the people of Minnesota for another six years. Today is a time for us to come together as a state and a nation. There is much work to be done, and the Senator is ready to roll-up his sleeves and bring people together to get it done.”
Nice to see Coleman claiming victory before it’s his. Maybe we would consider it more appropriate had he actually won first…..So….how long before he’s indicted? Will he, like Stevens, claim that it won’t affect his serving in the US Senate?
Has Chanhassen reported yet?
The Secretary of State website shows zeros for both precincts.
Irony of ironies - the recount goes into December while Franken twiddles his thumbs and Coleman continues to govern. When the final count is released confirming Norm’s win, a snowstorm rolls in and strands Al in Minnesota for an extra two days. Angry Al has one more of his trademarked hissy fits on camera and then heads to his new home on Martha’s Vineyard.
We blew it. This seat should’ve been a pick-up.
I knew it would be close, but……. dang!
This is huge. Georgia (Chambliss) appears headed for a December runoff as well.
I called the Secretary of States office this morning-to volunteer to help with the re-count. They asked me to call my county auditor. My county auditor took my name and number and said not to expect a call-back until after about November 18th.
If you are concerned about contributing to the effort towards keeping the cost for this re-count low, volunteer! The law in MN stipulates a mandatory re-count, but even that’s not a forgone conclusion. The initial tally must be (pre?) certified to establish the fact that the difference is <.05% before the re-count triggers.
The DFL wins this Senate deal no matter who is finally elected. If Al prevails it is a done deal. If Coleman is re-elected by a razor thin tally, he meets with the Democratically controlled Senate and its’ Ethics committee to discuss whether or not an extra $75,000 funneled through his wife has been reported as coming from a political supporter. If he has no record of this… well some Democrats are going to be deciding his fate. On top of that exactly how was this payment to his wife explained to the IRS which might just be as political under Democrats as it has been under Republicans.
Should Norm need to step down for any reason we have Pawlenty in a bind… specifically that he wanted to be Senator and may pull an “Anderson” and appoint himself. This leaves Mollenau as Governor… a weak candidate at best, and Pawlenty looking bad. Probably worse for siccing that bulldog on us for the rest of his term than anything else.
The one thing that the local DFL needs to worry about is if it’s bench of candidates is cleared off to fill appointments with the Obama Administration. We have some great people that would jump at the chance of trying to fix the fuck-ups of the last 8 years of Republican mistakes and follies.
All in all, now is the time to organize the party for Congressional races in 2 years and finally take out the Wicked Witch of the West and North Babymaker Bachmann and well any other Minnesota Republicans we can.
(Did you notice the concession speech by McCain last night, his supporters did not deserve such a quality candidate… booing at the very mention of President Obama’s name is bullshit especially even before the man has done a single thing in office.)
amusinc, don’t forget about Coleman’s Utility Bill problem.
I haven’t.
Norm, Norm, Norm. It seems to me like you have bigger things to worry about right now than prematurely declaring yourself a winner.
2PT, perhaps Donkeys have as long memories as Elephants?
Bluntly, if I was the Democratic Senate leadership, if Coleman wins, offer him something for changing his party designation back to “D”. You, I and the Republicans know he would do it in a heartbeat… if the money and power were right. After all we are talking about Norm Coleman here.
I should have specified the two Chanhassen precincts that show zero votes are precinct 485 and 490.
Also Blaine district 50 has zero votes.
Is there a good reason for this?
Norm just quoted Mother Threresa… I. Want. To. Puke.
So where do we stand?
Dems have 56 seats…
Minnesota will have a recount.
Georgia has a runoff coming.
Oregon is not final, but the remaining precincts are likely Dem.
Alaska may not be final for 10 days.
So it is possible for the Dems to get to 60, if everything breaks their way? But let’s not forget 1 of those 60 is Joe Lieberman.
The Stearns county data is also messed up.
People clearly put numbers in the wrong columns.
Hey Mr. Benson, you still gonna fire the Obama supporters who work for you? Go away.
Franken just got four votes closer.
Both of them lost votes so they must have eliminated some double counting.
How did Al blow it?
Let me count the ways:
Al did not bring up his business tax screw ups himself,
that cost a lot of votes when he got “outed”
for his business mess ups. First thing if
you make a mistake: announce it before the
other guys, you look honest, Al looked like
an idiot trying to hide stuff.
Kazeminy did not get the coverage, the media ignored this guy, how many companies is he involved in and how many do Coleman’s wives (and girlfriends) work for? Partly Al’s fault, they did not do the research to feed the media. The lawsuit was dumb luck for Franken,
but the lack of better
coverage of the “buying the suit” and “vacation flights” and the Petter’s type story of Kazeminy
not being known means it was ignored. Too bad
the media was not primed with tasty bits about
Kazeminy beforehand.
You make your own luck Al,
if there had been better media prep on Nasser K.
the lawsuit would have been the story instead of
the headline “Franken, stop attacking my wife”
which was the only message that got out.
But what really hurt was the inept business screw up and the
failure to get it out first.
“(Did you notice the concession speech by McCain last night, his supporters did not deserve such a quality candidate… booing at the very mention of President Obama’s name is bullshit especially even before the man has done a single thing in office.)”
This is just plain dumb.
Had the shoe been on the other foot and somehow McCain had won last night we would have had riots in the streets instead of just a few boorish boos. A few idiot supporters don’t detract from what was a great speech by McCain.
True, a nony moose. McCain gave a classy speech and he also put out a classy statement on Monday after Obama’s grandmother’s death was announced. Time to get over it. McCain called for support for the new president and people should recognize that.
53% for Obama is a clear mandate. Even though I didn’t vote for him, I’m glad that he is elected by a clear margin.
So what happens to all those ballots between now and the recount? I don’t trust their keepers. Count them again NOW.
Franken is down by 462 now.
He could be ahead by the end of the day as they clean up the data.
The margin of victory, recount or not, Franken or Coleman is within the margin or error. The person that goes to Washington as senator will do so knowing that their victory is as legitimate as a coin flip.
KH
Comparing the votes of more than two million people to a coin flip is asinine.
Jbenson
Coleman is not governor.
John (way back at the top) — the cost of the recount would be picked up by state taxpayers, since it’s mandatory (i.e. Franken cannot stop it from happening). If the margin were larger than .5%, the losing candidate could still request a recount but would have to pay for it him/herself.
If Coleman is removed from office, the special election would be held the same time as the next general election (2010). Gov. Pawlenty would appoint a Senator to serve in the interim.
I’m having trouble seeing the Senate Ethics Committee doing anything serious about Coleman. The lineup is evenly split between Rs and Ds, and since a tie vote means nothing happens, you’ve got to convince someone from the other team to come over. If Coleman becomes chair of the NRSC, raising money and plotting strategy for the 2010 midterms, the Rs are going to be extremely reluctant to sanction him, unless it involves gay sex. Any ethics investigation would likely end up deadlocked in a tie vote, after which Coleman claims “I was vindicated by the committee.”
Now, if Coleman ends up before an actual jury, it might be a different story, but that’s still a ways off yet.
To add to Randy’s comment about .5%, if my math was correct, the difference is .0002%, or as my h.s. math teacher would have said, “statistically insignificant”. So let’s allow the votes to be counted as they are, allow the certification to take place, and allow the election professionals to do their job. There should be no rush — take our time and get it right. The new congress does not convene until what, January 6th? And Sen. Coleman is still Sen. Coleman and will continue to do his job for sure until then end of this year.
Let’s recount every vote by hand, as required by law. Coleman should be in no rush. Session doesn’t start for a while.
lojasmo,
I didn’t. I compared was is about to happen to a coin flip. There is no way to know which candidate got more votes. Our ability to cast and count them is not precise or accurate enough given the closeness of the vote. It is by our ability to measure, a tie.
To think otherwise is ignorant, willfully so in most cases. Who finally wins will be determined by luck and the ability to work the system. Not by a real understanding of who received more votes.
“Coleman continues to govern”
Govern what? Who takes out the garbage at his house?
KH
This is not beyond our ability to measure. Only a tie is a tie. Nice spin, though.
By the way, this election was a strong repudiation of the conservative gestalt, in case you didn’t know.