New Life for Franken?
Or wishful thinking by the Minneapolis Star Tribune?
The day’s other news — which Franken’s campaign quickly described as a “breakthrough” — came when Ritchie’s office asked local election officials to examine an estimated 12,000 rejected absentee ballots and determine whether their rejection fell under one of four reasons for rejection defined in state law. The Secretary of State’s office asked that ballots that were rejected for something other than the four legal reasons be placed into a so-called “fifth category.”
The fifth category, Ritchie’s office said, could also include absentee ballots rejected for reasons that were “not based on factual information.”
Ritchie’s office, while stressing that the ballots be examined but not counted, asked that the task be completed by Dec. 18.
The move appeared to give at least some new life to the Franken campaign’s longstanding effort to add to the recount what it estimates are as many as 1,000 improperly rejected absentee ballots.
The Strib headline says: “Pendulum swings to Franken.” But Ed Morrissey says it’s no breakthrough:
Ritchie anticipates the challenge Franken will file in the court, and he’s assuming (and hoping) that Franken will win some sort of review of rejected absentee ballots. Ritchie’s order gives the county boards a head start on reviewing the ballots and verifying that they were statutorily rejected. If not, then the fifth pile count will give some idea of the scope of the issue on which Franken will argue. It doesn’t actually change anything, and in fact may demonstrate that the problem is so small that it will have little effect on the election.
I hope Ed’s right.
Franken Loses 36 votes!
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_11129187?nclick_check=1
Franken will try to steal the seat by having the Democrat majority of the Senate seat him.
PCD (7fe637) — 12/4/2008 @ 6:51 amBut the real tragedy is that a clown like Franken could even get close, never mind within a few votes. Because of that, I am convinced we are doomed.
Old Coot (a8acc7) — 12/4/2008 @ 7:00 amAl Franken has said that he might take his case directly to the Senate for a decision. Majority Leader Harry Reid once said that he could smell visitors before they got there, so one supposes that his olfactory abilities would detect Mr Franken before he arrived.
My guess is that, should he detect this Franken-cense, he would still de-myrrh at such request.
The Dana who tells awful jokes (3e4784) — 12/4/2008 @ 7:24 amDidn’t the media make a big deal of Franken not paying various taxes in several states? Oh, wait, exposure of negative things is only for Rethuglicans.
Reminds me of Gore2000. Hanging/indented chads, voter intent, military ballots, butterfly ballots, etc. Or even better yet, the Washington state thievery, with the same assclown that helped steal that election working for Franken in Minn. And the GOP mostly does zilch to counter it when heads should have rolled in Wash. SOMEONE should be in prison. Another story that got little media attention. Old Coot is correct.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 12/4/2008 @ 8:06 amSaxby Chambliss’ win in Georgia preserves Republicans’ filibuster firewall regardless of the MN recount outcome — had he lost, it is more likely Demos would have deployed their own “nuclear option” to seat Franken/refuse to seat Coleman since that would have given the Dems their filibuster-proof majority.
Assuming the recount/courts decide for Coleman, I’ll go out on a limb and predict Dingy Harry won’t act on a Franken request.
furious (dc6e4c) — 12/4/2008 @ 9:36 amNew life for Spitzer?
http://www.slate.com/id/2205995/pagenum/all/
(note the author, h/t worldmagblog)
Amphipolis (fdbc48) — 12/4/2008 @ 9:59 am[…] Patterico hopes Ed Morrissey is right that there has been no “breakthrough” for Franken. […]
How Many Times Will Al Franken Lose? | Blue Grass, Red State (6be0d4) — 12/4/2008 @ 10:30 amI wonder how this is playing out. I know alot of people blamed Gore for the recount election, though the hard left still somehow blames Bush for it.
Does anyone know if the voters in MN are holding Franken responsible for his desperate bids to win this election?
Juan (4cdfb7) — 12/4/2008 @ 10:43 amMn, trying to prove that the people in Fl are smarter than them and verifying the proof as true.
Scrapiron (dda662) — 12/4/2008 @ 11:08 amThe Star-Tribune’s own recount page has Coleman up by 316. That article dates to yesterday, when Franken did indeed gain some ballots. The Strib endorsed Coleman, so I don’t think it’s wishful thinking on their part, just an overzealous headline.
arethusa (c27b0b) — 12/4/2008 @ 11:19 amMinn. is controlled by the Democrat-Farm-Labor party, but maybe their power is fading. Lets hope so.
GM Roper (85dcd7) — 12/4/2008 @ 11:20 amHey, is Al Franken on the short list to replace Hillary as NY’s junior Senator?
PCD (7fe637) — 12/4/2008 @ 11:28 amI still maintain that if MN allows Franken to steal this seat, we should immediately give MN to Canada.
JD (5f0e11) — 12/4/2008 @ 11:28 amComment by JD — 12/4/2008 @ 11:28 am
Just what is the cause of this deep animus you hold for Canada?
Another Drew (410846) — 12/4/2008 @ 11:49 am14, AD, JD knows Mexico wouldn’t take MN.
PCD (7fe637) — 12/4/2008 @ 12:26 pmStuart Smalley is going down, Reid will not risk further enmity from the Senate GOP if he goes down that road. Besides, there’s quite a bit of loose talk that Obama and his minions actually don’t want a filibuster – proof majority, lest they be lead down a tunnel that they cannot extricate themselves from. Having that firewall gives them an excuse to tell the nutbags on the left that most of the items on their wish lists won’t fly.
The GOP saved Clinton’s 1st term from complete disaster, and having so many of his former compadres on Obama’s staff cannot be mere coincidence – he’s learned from his predecessor’s mistakes in vast overreaching, I hope.
Dmac (e30284) — 12/4/2008 @ 12:30 pmThe people who voted for Al Franken
The Limerick Avenger (556f76) — 12/4/2008 @ 3:41 pmDefinitely need a real spankin’
It’s a real fright
To think that we might
Have a senator that’s a real skankin!
AD – It is really only the French Canadians that I have such animus towards 😉
JD (bda7e2) — 12/5/2008 @ 5:30 amNow Franken wants a Forensic Accounting of the votes he hallucinates about.
I have an idea to make the election a better joke than Franken is making of it. Have 1 known Democrat, 1 known Republican, and the MN Chief Supreme Court Justice dress in tranlucent underwear only not to hide any recording devices, unauthorized notes or campaign material, and have them go verify each and every vote by asking for absolute identification of the voter before they ask what their vote was.
Sick, but no sicker than Franken.
PCD (7fe637) — 12/5/2008 @ 7:07 amIn fairness, the Star Tribune, normally a horid left wing rag, endorsed Coleman.
That endorsement may be the only reason Coleman is ahead.
headhunt23 (9e1243) — 12/5/2008 @ 1:04 pm20, Or it may be that there are more rational voters who didn’t vote for Franken.
PCD (7fe637) — 12/6/2008 @ 9:31 am