All eyes (via the UpTake) will swing over to the State Canvassing Board's final aria today at 2:30pm CT.
Legal maneuvers continue out of sight and no word so far from the MN Supreme Court on Coleman's petition for an emergency order.
Franken leads +225 or +0.077% of 2.9 million votes cast. Every vote counts indeed. Or another way 225 votes out of 4130 precincts statewide is 1 vote for every 18 precincts. Less accurately (since 87 counties have wildly different populations, but still) the lead is 3 votes per county. Get Out the Vote Indeed. (Mega thanks to ALL of you who made 1 more phone call and knocked on 1 more door.)
Bottom of Cliff.
Kinda short and sweet today, basking in the non-infinity of the recount, below the Orange fold.
UPDATE 1: More info, analysis and comments in JedL's Front Page diary here:http://www.dailykos.com/...
Because we can't talk about this race too much! :-D
UPDATE 2: MN SUPREME CT turns down Coleman's request on the 654 cherries. Go to the UpTake for more!...No Dissents, so Justice Alan Page as lead signs off on another 5-0 decision.
TAKE THAT NORM!!! 5-0, 5-0, 5-0!!!
Franken Leads by +225
Just wanted to put that up all by itself.
State Canvassing Board and the Supreme Court
At 2:30CT the Board will meet for a semi-final session. TheUpTake feed here:http://www.theuptake.com/ They were going to review and settle any challenges from Saturday's Count of previously Rejected Absentee Ballots but their were no challenges. (I might have missed one or 2; if so they will be dealt with and rather swiftly I think.)
Then they will check their math one more time and CERTIFY the end of the recount and the numbers. It won't be solid and final/final because: a) there is no word yet from the Supreme Court on either the 125 or so "duplicate/double counted ballots" issue or b) the 654 rejected absentee ballots from piles 1-4 that the Colemaniks cherry picked across the state and now want included in the Count.
If the Supreme Court dismisses the Board can go ahead (with some finality). If the Court orders hearings we wait (and will enjoy the drama). I don't think the Court would flat accept the Coleman petition and order the votes counted, so I think its one of these 2.
OR the Court might be waiting for 2:30 as well. (No doubt they are fans of TheUpTake as well; isn't everybody?) The Court waits for the Board to go ahead and CERTIFY the Count and THEN dismiss as moot BUT tells Team Norm that their recourse is to go the "election contest" route with the 3 judge panel and all as noted in yesterday's diary here:http://www.dailykos.com/...
Left Over Drama
You can see from my Saturday comments I overslept and got the diary up after 9:00am. I didn't tune in to the UpTake broadcast until late morning and missed the opening drama.
The Opening and Count started at 9:00am. At 9:01 Legal Heavy for Coleman Mark Trimble objected and said the Opening and Count should wait for a Supreme Court Ruling. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann was miffed but kept cool. He consulted with MN Attorney General Lori Swanson and got her official opinion that they should go ahead, albeit by opening and marking both ballot and envelope just in case of legal actions later. (This led to 6 hours of screaming boredom for a worldwide audience. Way to go Tony. No sense of showbiz.)
So they were ready to go at 10:00am when the following happened: (nice account by Rachel Stassen-Berger in the Pioneer Press)
Almost an hour after Trimble's Saturday morning objection, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann said that, under the advice of the state attorney general's office, preparations and counting would begin.
Trimble took to his feet to reiterate his objection.
Gelbmann tried to cut him off, saying candidates' representatives already had their chance to speak.
"This is a public meeting," Trimble said.
"Two minutes," Gelbmann responded.
"I will have my say," Trimble said.
"Two minutes," Gelbmann said.
"It may be 2 1/2 minutes, but I will have my say," Trimble said. He repeated his objection and said the campaign's participation in Saturday's count did nothing to nullify those objections.
With that, Secretary of State's Office staffers began the six-hour process.......
Well Tony, I know you're sticking up for your client (although with Norm that IS starting from a very low base) but this was just another example why people don't like lawyers.
On the other hand, kudos to Jim Gelbmann (operating under the aegis of Mark Ritchie who sets the tone) who was going right up to the limit of accomodation and fairness and not one millimeter further. Not in the tank. Not in cahoots. Not losing his cool (though sorely provoked). And NOT backing down either. A potent combination. NICE going Gelbmann!!
Reactions from Here and There
(h/t to Joe Bodell over at MN Progressive Project) Waaaayyy up north in St. Louis County and Lake County (North and NorthEAST of Duluth in the "Arrowhead" region heading toward Canada) the The Timber Jay newspaper of Cook, Tower and Ely has an editorial that is well, heartening to the anti-Coleman side:
http://timberjay.com/...
I mean ya gotta love a lead (from the wonderfully named Marshall Helmberger) that opens fire like this:
Norm Coleman just continues to embarrass himself. It wasn’t enough that he ran one of the ugliest campaigns for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota history. He now seems intent on one of the worst displays of serial flip-flopping in the annals of election recounting.
In ordnanace terms this is just the Enfield! The 11 inch Dahlgrens and the 128 lb. Columbiads are further on. Enjoy.
(PS A few years ago Tower, MN set a new state record at MINUS 61 for coldest ever recorded. Thats officially. Unofficially the weather observer took that Minus 61 reading, then removed the thermometer from the overgrown birdhouse on a pole and walked it down the hill in his/her backyard to a low, sort of marshy place and laid the thermometer at the base of a tree. Observer waited about 10 minutes and then noted the reading of -71, and then walked it back up the hill to the observation station.
Even in MN people admit, "Yumpin' yimminy it gets really cold in Tower, MN Ole!" Maybe Helmberger's prose is what they use to keep warm up there.)
Taking a leaf from Reich-wing pundits who ALWAYS have good "advice" for Democrats on policy, politics and elections, Zack Stephenson does the same in the other direction. Over at MN Publius he takes unemployed (*sigh; shakes head* Norm is just another job-loss victim of the Bush Depression. Sad.) former Senator Horse Dentures around the political map in Minnesota and what Norm's future could be (hint: Norm could find out if Jesse Ventura collected all his feather boas before leaving the Mansion): http://mnpublius.com/...
And MN Publius doesn't stop there but rounds up pundits who add to the pile-on: Hotline, a WCCO interview and a blurb from Politico.
Your Vast Left Wing Echo Chamber (which right now is the size of the space under your kitchen sink when you're lying on your back in there with a small flashlight in your teeth and a towel to catch the drip and you call "Hand me the wrench" and immediately a medieval barmaid is shoved in there with you-- a wench.):
http://mnpublius.com/...
The Center for Public Integrity (a much battered concept for the past 8 years, but also a Washington DC group) has a Top 10 list for 2008. 2 winners are TheUpTake (YAY!) and the Center for Independent Media (parent of the Michigan Independent and the Minnesota Independent) (YAY!):http://www.publicintegrity.org/...
A disappointed MN voter I can respect (Star Trib blog): (consolation available upon request; its hard to lose close)
Unbelievable
I am so glad this is over (almost). I am embarrassed (for the citizens of Mn) that it took so long; however the system appears to have worked, even if Franken is to be the next senator from the state of Minnesota.
New York Moxie
OK, OK lots of you are rightfully hacked off at some of Harry Reid's moves and noises regarding seating the "current (cough*Franken*cough) vote leader", soon to be certified leader. Well it looks like he'd better because a veterate life-form has raised the bet. DSCC Chair Charles Shumer (D-NY):
The powerful chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Sunday that it's clear that Minnesota Democratic candidate Al Franken has won the election and should be seated as soon as possible.
Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Pioneer Press has the rest here:http://www.twincities.com/...
Monday Morning Minnesota Media
There have been comments from time to time in these diaries about the Star Tribune's coverage, particularly its headline writing slant toward endorsee Coleman. It's bugged me a bit but only a bit.
But today I am officially annoyed. Pat Doyle gets A1 top, ABOVE the annual Viking playoff fiasco/el foldo, so good location. But the header is "Coleman's Best Hope is in Court." Bleeh. C'mon. As has been noted we haven't seen a daily "Franken +225" box score in blue, but we had WEEKS of daily "Coleman +215" in red.
4 paragraphs in Doyle writes: "Barring (Supreme) court action the (Canvassing) board could certify the results of the recount this afternoon, presumably with Franken on top." Pat, who else is going to be on top? Barkley? Pat, how about "will certify Franken as the winner."?
The rest of the piece (jumping to A6) is a decent round up of news reported on these boards in the last 2 days.....The lawyers get in shots: Re: the 125 "duplicate/doubled counted" ballots Knaak for the Coleman team: "The results of entire precincts are viewed as tainted." Elias: "Double-counted ballots are a theory in search of evidence."....
Ah, one new tidbit: If the whole thing goes to an election contest in front of the 3 judge panel, timeline is 7 days to file, 20 days to start trial. NEW: after trial is decided, right of appeal MUST be within 15 days...so by legal standards that would be moving right along....
No LTEs about the election, just boring stuff like the economy, a Vikings stadium, the Middle East and stuff like that.....
OK definitely time for more coffee. See you at TheUpTake! Thats the latest from yust SE of Lake Wobegon everybody.
Shalom.