Anoka

Two of the first in a series of a dozen regional meetings that started today in Minnesota’s Senate election recount adjourned this morning after only an hour — with very different results. In Sherburne County, representatives of candidates Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman agreed to forward to the State Canvassing Board 15 of 18 unopened absentee ballots that local election officials decided last week had been wrongly rejected. But next door in Anoka County the process prescribed by order of the state Supreme Court quickly collapsed, with the rival campaigns at loggerheads over the Coleman representative’s insistence on including ballots that local officials had not selected as having been wrongly rejected.

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s recent Hardball blow-up has undoubtedly endangered her re-election prospects. But what do constituents in the 6th Congressional District think of Bachmann’s latest episode of foot-in-mouth disease? On Tuesday afternoon Chris Steller and I ventured into the northern suburbs to speak with voters about the controversy and their feelings regarding Bachmann. The responses were diverse, from a man who calls Bachmann a “nutcase” to a woman who shares Bachmann’s concerns about Barack Obama to a man who no longer votes because he feels all politicians are crooks.