Democrat Al Franken will not lose the lead he gained Friday in the Minnesota Senate recount, his campaign’s recount attorney said today. Franken’s margin over Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman will stand at between 35 and 50 votes next Tuesday, after the State Canvassing Board adds back thousands of withdrawn ballot challenges to its tally.
The pronouncement that Franken will soon be Minnesota’s senator-elect is not just the campaign talking; it’s the campaign’s math talking. Franken’s figures always “assumed those [challenged] ballots would end up in the tally of the candidate for whom each one was originally called,” as a campaign statement put it. “[T]he internal count can predict the result of that work with certainty: a 35-50 vote lead for Franken.”