Team Coleman, in their continual efforts to politicize the recount efforts have put out a press release today putting question to the fluctuating numbers that some in the press and on
Twitter are treating like media catnip.
To attack the hardworking men and women in every county in Minnesota dedicated to delivering an accurate election is a move that I think will backfire for Norm Coleman.
Finding errors and correcting them is normal as counts are verified and more importantly it has no effect on the final numbers for the recount. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie gave answers to this question and a number of other questions about the recount and the current fluctuations today on MPR’s Midday. Bob Collins also has a recap.
For example: let’s rewind to 2006. When 100% of the precincts were reported the day after the election, major media outlets reported the same numbers the Secretary of State had: Mark Kennedy had 839,173 votes and Amy Klobuchar had 1,279,515 votes. By the time the voting was certified, the new totals were 835,653 and 1,278,849, a difference of 3520 votes for Kennedy and a difference of 666 votes for Klobuchar.
For Coleman to freak out over a fully reported 100 vote typo by filing a “data practices request” is a true waste of money and time. The fluctuations are normal. Team Coleman should sit tight until both the results are certified and stop trying to scare voters into thinking the system is flawed.
Check it out…Amy already won….Mike is looking IMPRESSIVE!
Mike Hatch leading Gov. Tim Pawlenty leading 50 to 42.
Polls received at the same time in the race for U.S. Senate show Amy Klobuchar leading U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy 62 to 35.
According to
CNN…Amy has defeated Mark Kennedy.
Shocking.
Amy Klobuchar has reportedly raised $580,000 in the first five weeks of her campaign out doing Republican shoo-in Rep. Mark Kennedy by $30,000. The campaigns reported ending the quarter with $550,000 in Klobuchar’s war chest and $510,000 in Kennedy’s.
This is a potentially bad indicator for Patty Wetterling, a Democratic fore-runner for the seat who lost to Kennedy for the 6th district House seat in 2004, as she reported raising only $330,000 for the same period. Wetterling’s showing, however, is only disappointing when compared to Klobuchar’s. $330,000 is still an impressive amount this early in the election cycle. Wetterling has yet to officially announce her candidacy but Mike Dorsey, Wetterling’s campaign spokesman, has said, “She is running.”
Rod Grams, who Dayton ousted in 2000, has said that he will seek the Republican endorsement but is still no where to be found. He has yet to start fund raising and generally seems disengaged from the whole process.
Despite how close Klobuchar and Kennedy’s numbers were this is actually quite the victory for her for several reasons.
Kennedy had a head start on all of the Democrats not just in the announcement of his candidacy but also in the formation of his political machine. As the Republican candidate Kennedy was in position to run before Dayton announced that he would not seek the seat; whereas potential Democrats could not even have begun to think of running before that event. Kennedy also has the advantage of essentially capturing the full attention of the Minnesota Republican constituency where Klobuchar and Wetterling have to share the fund raising field. When Klobuchar and Wetterling’s numbers are considered in this light Democrats should be cautiously excited.
Wetterling is clearly not calling it quits anytime soon but what happened to the other Democratic contenders? Well, for the time being, I feel fairly same in branding them as none-issues. Either Wetterling or Klobuchar are going to be the Democratic candidate, barring some unexpected event.
Rod Grams also seems to be a non-issue despite his constant threats of entering the arena. Democrats better hope he does because it would certainly make their lives easier, otherwise Kennedy can stand back and let Wetterling and Klobuchar duke it out while he cruises on towards the primaries. Still, Grams seems disturbingly dumb-struck by the numbers his opponents are posting: Well Grams, get going then!
Either way these numbers provide evidence for what many people have already posited: this is going to be the most expensive political race in Minnesota’s history.
People Are Shouting
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