Franken narrowly trails in Minnesota counting.

[daredelvis]

George Murphy (Republican) (U.S. Senator, California)

"-But Mr. Murphy is the star
-he's done the best by far
-Oh gee it's great
-at last we have a senator who can really sing and dance..."

Al's book Why Not Me? is among my favorites. Very prophetic.

Daredelvis

 

[Charlie Monoxide]

If you count Atheletes, Kevin Johnson, NBA Star, was elected Mayor of Sacramento last week.

Wasn't JC Watts a big deal in the Canadian Football League before he jumped into politics and subsequent punditry ....

Charle (as a Republican) Monoxide

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Oh, pestilence and bother.

Not Franken... I just can't wait to see the first bill he writes. Maybe he'll get Tina Fay to help write it.

He needs to cite his, um, experience for this post, methinks.

Franken is intelligent and well informed about the issues. I have been listening to him for the last several years and have read his books. Why do you discredit someone you seem to know so little about?

 

[gdnp]

As celebrities go, he has certainly demonstrated more interest and knowledge about politics over an extended period of time before throwing his hat into the ring than most. He has better credentials than the typical multimillionaire businessman senate candidate.

 

[BenBurch]

As celebrities go, he has certainly demonstrated more interest and knowledge about politics over an extended period of time before throwing his hat into the ring than most. He has better credentials than the typical multimillionaire businessman senate candidate.

My only reservation is that he has been nasty on a personal level to almost everybody I know who has had to deal with him.

 

[CptColumbo]

Sen. Jack Kemp is also an athlete turned politician.

Both sides in the Senate campaign here are acting like asses IMO. Sen. Coleman wants absentee ballots that were found in a election judges car (but still sealed) to not be counted and Franken based an accusation of voters being disenfranchised on a rumor that turned out to be false (a elderly woman with Parkinson's being disqualified due to her signature not matching the one on record). I just want it to be over.

 

[Cicero]

Franken is intelligent and well informed about the issues. I have been listening to him for the last several years and have read his books. Why do you discredit someone you seem to know so little about?

If the putrid putz Stuart Smalley ever gets to the Senate, he could keep Barney Frank company on the Senate Banking and Finance Committee. That $70,000 Smalley owed in back taxes makes him eminently qualified.

 

[gdnp]

If the putrid putz Stuart Smalley ever gets to the Senate, he could keep Barney Frank company on the Senate Banking and Finance Committee. That $70,000 Smalley owed in back taxes makes him eminently qualified.

You're just jealous because, gosh darn it, people like him.

 

[linusrichard]

If the putrid putz Stuart Smalley ever gets to the Senate, he could keep Barney Frank company on the Senate Banking and Finance Committee. That $70,000 Smalley owed in back taxes makes him eminently qualified.

Wait -- Barney Frank is on the "Senate Banking and Finance Committee"? Don't they usually only let senators on those committees?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

My only reservation is that he has been nasty on a personal level to almost everybody I know who has had to deal with him.

You're speaking of Franken? That isn't the impression I have gotten.

 

[BenBurch]

You're speaking of Franken? That isn't the impression I have gotten.

Yeah. Now, maybe the people I know are in the small subset of people he's been nasty to, but that's all I have to go on.

 

[Bindamel]

As the recount continues, Minnesota Public Radio has some examples of the challenged ballots.

After seeing the ballots themselves, and some of the arguments made for/against them by both sides, all I can do is shake my head.

 

[daredelvis]

Sen. Jack Kemp is also an athlete turned politician.

Both sides in the Senate campaign here are acting like asses IMO. Sen. Coleman wants absentee ballots that were found in a election judges car (but still sealed) to not be counted and Franken based an accusation of voters being disenfranchised on a rumor that turned out to be false (a elderly woman with Parkinson's being disqualified due to her signature not matching the one on record). I just want it to be over.

The story about the ballots in the judges car have been retracted.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty told Fox's Chris Wallace that there was no truth to the rumor that ballots were found in the trunk of an election officials car. The Minnesota Governor said that he knew of no suspicious activity in the tight race between Sen. Norm Coleman and Al Franken. "As of this moment we know of no actual evidence of wrongdoing or fraud in the process," Said Pawlenty.

Earlier this week, Pawlenty told Fox's Megyn Kelly that he found suspicion in the story of the found ballots. Pawlenty said, "There has not been a good explanation for that, Kelly. That's a very good question, but they've been included in the count pile which is concerning."

Link

Daredelvis

 

[tomwaits]

My dad has fond memories of Franken doing a USO show in Kuwait. It was right after Rumsfeld made his "you go to war with the army you have" statement. Franken showed up in what he claimed was body armor he got from Rumsfeld: it was two trash can lids on his front and back. The crowd got a real kick out of it.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

The story about the ballots in the judges car have been retracted.

Link

Daredelvis

Coleman's lawyer Fritz Knack had originally pushed the story of the found ballots. David Brauer of the Minnesota Post debunked the idea of ballot tampering. Nevertheless, pundits and reporters have continued to cite the story.

Kind of like Faux News putting John Fund on over and over with his claims of voter fraud long after Fund's whole book was debunked as the real fraud.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Here's Franken's lawyer's letter the the editor of the Wall St Jnl (now owned by Faux's Rupert Murdoch, I might add).

There's Nothing Unusual About the Minnesota Recount

I write to set straight just a few of the many false statements made in your Nov. 12 editorial "Mischief in Minnesota?"

Franken's lawyer reports a full explanation of the faked claims of voter fraud.

I think Coleman is just hedging his bets. If the recount shows he really lost he is going to want to cry foul and if he wins he can just say the cheaters failed. He doesn't appear to give a rat's ass that the actual vote count is determined.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Recount, Day 3: Coleman hanging on to thin lead

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman is hanging on to his whisker-thin lead over Democrat Al Franken. With 64 percent of the 2.9 million ballots recounted, Coleman is ahead by 120 votes. [Last update: November 21, 2008 - 9:50 PM]

 

[BenBurch]

Here is the recount page on the Minnesota Secretary of State's web site;

http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20081104/SenateRecount.asp

Can't tell much by these totals though.

 

[CptColumbo]

http://www.startribune.com/politics...yqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUX

The lead, with about 60% recounted, has now dropped to 115 votes when comparing totals in precincts where the new count is complete.

They have a couple of example of disputed ballots and I'm glad I'm not on that commitee.

BTW about 75 ballots were lost, but later found in a the voting machine in Duluth. It was locked, therefore -so far- no one is disputing it.

 

[gdnp]

http://www.startribune.com/politics...yqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUX

The lead, with about 60% recounted, has now dropped to 115 votes when comparing totals in precincts where the new count is complete.

They have a couple of example of disputed ballots and I'm glad I'm not on that commitee.

BTW about 75 ballots were lost, but later found in a the voting machine in Duluth. It was locked, therefore -so far- no one is disputing it.

Doesn't sound to hopeful for Franken. The recount seems to be following the original pretty closely. If he's only picked up 100 votes from 60% it will be hard to get 115 more from 40%

From what I saw of the disputed ballots I didn't have much trouble deciding. In most cases the voter's intent was either pretty obvious or pretty muddled.