Could Franken win? Coleman’s lead slips to 438 336 239 221 204 206 votes

I’ve been looking for a clearer explanation of this race. Thank you.
I will keep my thoughts directed toward an Al Franken victory!

AM Hamilton

Go Al!!!!

Either way but the ballot or by the ethics investigation, Norm is going away.

Looks like Al has a great chance,Count all of the Votes Minnesota!

I think the ballots should be machine counted and only those that fail the machine count be hand counted. Hand counting is much more error prone, and I really don’t like the idea of someone trying to determine another person’s ‘intent’.

I have read Al’s books as well as a couple of books by O’Reilly, a.k.a. Oh Really. Al’s positions are supported by reality, and supported by documentation. Please, look at his foot notes. Coleman is a bull(shit) in the china shop. Franken is a master of sardonic wit. Coleman and his ilk, do not understand how humor can be a challenge to the person that is the target.

Tom S
You have it backwards. Machine counting in a situation like this is much more error prone. Plus the scanned ballots do not appear as “bad” when run through the machine. A tally is delivered, that’s all. The only way to see if the machine tally is correct is to physically look at the ballots and count them. The rules and instructions on recounting are extremely specific in the law. Only those ballots found “questionable” are forwarded to St. Paul by examination by the board.
On the other hand it would be interesting to count them by hand, and then rescan them to determine the difference.

Turns out Jeff Larson bought the clothes for Sarah Palin.

“Jeff Larson is a prominent Republican consultant whose firm has been tied to the onslaught of negative robocalls from Senator John McCain’s campaign.

Mr. Larson was also the chief executive of the local host committee for the Republican National Convention.

Now it appears that Mr. Larson may have been the personal shopper for Gov. Sarah Palin’s lavish shopping spree — or at least he initially picked up the tab.

Federal Election Commission records show that Mr. Larson was reimbursed by the Republican National Committee in September for more than $130,000 in purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, Barney’s New York, and Atelier New York, a men’s clothing store.”

–New York Times

Norm Coleman gave Jeff Larson 1.6 million dollars for “consultation fees” .

I think he could have got the whole queer eye staff for half that.

Thanks for the linkage, but it was KARE’s Scott Goldberg who unearthed the two-in-1,000 tidbit; I merely onpassed in Glean:

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=528872&catid=2

Actually, Al uses endnotes, not footnotes, and that’s one small part of his attacks on Coultergeist–that she rants and raves that she uses lots of footnotes but they’re actually endnotes (which readers are far less likely to verify).

What’s this I hear that Coleman had Somalia paid operatives in dominantly populated Somalia precincts steering votes away from Al Franken. Is there any truth to this?

To the poster who thinks hand counting results in more errors he is mistaken. As an election judge in MN who had counted ballots for years prior to the new optical system, we were spot on in every single election. Whenever we needed a recount, our counts never varied. Remember it is not ONE person that counts the ballots, it is many, and they must be verified by two people. It they cannot agree on the count then a third and forth person come in to count. This is the most accurate way to tally votes. Screw the machines. An “x” next to the name is the only way to go.

Let us hope this opportunity will be used not only to recount the votes but also verify the validity of the votes. Any registration submitted by ACORN would be a good place to start. They are already under investigation for voter fraud in fourteen states.

John K, you are incorrect. There is a huge difference between voter fraud (actually casting fraudulent ballots) and voter registration fraud (turning in phony registrations). I can guarantee you Mickey Mouse did not show up at any polling places anywhere in the USA to cast a fraudulent ballot. Besides, ACORN, in every instance I have heard, has actually done everything by the letter of the law. They are required to turn in ALL registrations that they receive in most states and they flag those they suspect are phony. This whole ACORN vote fraud thing is BS concocted by right wing crybabies who are covering for their own, actual voter disenfranchisement attempts. Truly pathetic. Count all of the votes. Oh yeah, go AL!

You are misinformed about ACORN, most probably thru election campaign propoganda
No charges of voter fraud or even voter registration fraud have been brought against ACORN.
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/58493-help-spread-the-truth-about-acorn

Tommy McCloskey, you’ve probably seen it by now but the latest post on that topic at the moment is here:

And then there were 236

From:http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20081104/ElecRslts.asp?M=S&R=all&P=A&Races=%27%27

Republican NORM COLEMAN 1211542 41.99
Democratic-Farmer-Labor AL FRANKEN 1211306 41.98

Just because the ballot machine takes in the ballot and tallies a vote for a certain candidate, DOES NOT mean it gave the vote to the correct candidate. It only means the computer thinks it was able to properly read the ballot. It then places a vote in the column it thinks is correct. The machines are tested before each election and any that are found to be faulty are not used. However, in a race this close it only takes a few flipped votes to change the outcome, which is where a hand recount would come into play.

Back up to 238:
Republican NORM COLEMAN 1211543 41.99
Democratic-Farmer-Labor AL FRANKEN 1211305 41.98

And down to 221
Republican NORM COLEMAN 1211556 41.99
Democratic-Farmer-Labor AL FRANKEN 1211335 41.98

GODDAMIT how does the SOS in MN not want this recount right f***ing now? Are they not curious too?

John K in the two comments that your name has popped up, I believe you have a good and genuine desire to see democracy work correctly.. It sounds like you want your democracy to work so that those who are entitled to vote be able to vote,

Before you erroneously believed that voting was related to having a paid up non-foreclosed place to live. Voting is not a Privilege offered, but an ABSOLUTE RIGHT guaranteed in a democracy for its citizens.

Now you state that Voter fraud must be controlled but what you describe is Registration Fraud. Totally different.. Voter Fraud or ELECTORAL FRAUD is rampant.. Registration Fraud is not.. (Former Bush Attorney General Gonzalez tried oftly hard to find that rampant fraud but failed… and he was forced to resign over firing 13 State Federal who couldn’t find Voter fraud, ie blocks of illegal non citizens who were voting enmass…) (Mickey Mouse and the dead person in the phone book that the lazy Acron worker signed up in order to get paid.. probably didn’t show up Tuesday to vote.. That is Registration Fraud..not Voter Fraud. If Mickey Mouse showed up to vote then yes that would be Voter Fraud…quessing not so much)

What there is RAMPANT ELECTORAL FRAUD in this country not by voters but by a few COMPANIES (Diebold & E&S) who control the software and the machines, who fail to maintain in good working condition, who refuse to allow government oversight, or public oversight, or have a failsafe system by which to cross check with paper ballots, or a print out. (Why should our democracy be within the control of the Urosevich brothers or the owners Diebold Machines who saw no conflict with working with BUsh reelection team in Ohio in 2004).

Electoral Fraud results from Failure of the machines, disappeared votes and ballots by the thousands, and this is what is a far more serious threat to democracy.

John K I believe you are a good guy…but be a little bit suspicious when you are asked to believe such things as voter rolls should be purged when someone has their house foreclosed or Misinformation is spread about the difference between Registration Fraud and Voter/ or worse Electoral Fraud…

It’s now a two-hundred-and-four vote race.

Registration fraud? That’s an amusing rationalization. Lets see, Al Franken is generating the votes needed to encroach on Coleman from just three precincts, half from one precinct in particular that experienced a deluge of same day registrations, that is to say, voters. Common sense would say that this seems like to good place to start an inquiry, right? Especially considering that Acorn, the liberal activist group that has more than a few voter fraud indictments and convictions under their belt, was very active in MN this year.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009189

Bzzzt. Nice try Tommy. Can you provide even one single incident where a fraudulently registered by ACORN voter (note that I said earlier that they are often REQUIRED by state law to turn in even the registrations they know to be fraudulent) actually showed up to the polls and voted? Just one? Your argument is just BS, especially considering MNs same-day registration and voting laws. Anyone who registered on election day had to provide legit ID and you know it. Common sense says that numbers change from election night because the county election boards actually check and, get this, count the votes to make sure things are right.

As we all want voter participation to be available to all qualified voters, adequate controls must be enforced to preserve the integrity of the vote and ensure honest elections. An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal, Mischief in Minnesota, highlights the abuse of the current system in Minnesota. Safeguards must be imposed, enforced, and all voter fraud fully investigated and punished. Stealing elections is not good citizenship, if indeed you are even an eligible citizen.

Wall Street journal, huh? That thing owned by Rupert Murdoch? What a shocker. With the number of lawyers involved for both sides (and the fact that the Sec of State is interested in fairness, unlike FL 2000) I am certain that there will be a clean, fair, accurate recount. Why can’t Normy and his pals live with that? The whole country had to live with FLs crap for 8 years.

Just because the Wall Street Journal repeated a lie, doesn’t make it true. I wish WSJ had checked their facts before writing that editorial.