G. Barry Anderson

You can’t tell the players in the Minnesota Senate recount drama with a scorecard — even a Politico blog that’s called The Scoreboard misattributed a quote (since corrected) on Monday from Marc Elias, a lawyer for Al Franken, as coming from Fritz Knaak, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s recount attorney. Minnesota media mostly keep those two straight, but even locals find the profusion of Scandinavian surnames in the various recount venues vexing. More including the Anderson Effect and a Sven-and-Ole routine, after the jump.

Minnesota Supreme Court justices Eric Magnuson and G. Barry Anderson will not participate in a case involving the U.S. Senate race currently before the state’s top court. The last sentence of an order issued yesterday by the Supreme Court subtly announced this decision: “Magnuson, C.J., and Anderson, G. Barry, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this matter.”

The statewide canvassing board unanimously voted down a request from Al Franken’s campaign to examine rejected absentee ballots at a meeting this morning. The five-member panel, charged with overseeing the U.S. Senate recount, did not rule on the merits of the Democrat’s case, but rather determined that it did not have the jurisdiction to consider the matter.

The Minnesota Independent liveblogged and tweeted (at MnIndyLIVE) the Nov. 26 State Canvassing Board meeting, at which Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie led the five-person board in considering the Al Franken for Senate campaign’s request that they find a way to count votes from all improperly rejected absentee ballots.

As the U.S. Senate contest lurches forward, with nearly 80 percent of the ballots recounted and Norm Coleman clinging to a roughly 200-vote lead over Al Franken, a resolution finally looks to be on the horizon. But as events have repeatedly proven over the last three weeks, nothing is as simple as it seems when a senate seat that potentially could give Democrats a fillibuster-proof 60-seat majority is on the line. All eyes will now turn to the five-member statewide canvassing board as it meets tomorrow to deal with the thorny question of whether to consider absentee ballots that were rejected by local election officials.