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minnpost.com - 12/2/2008
Franken may get lift from 200 'found' ballots
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After what has been a bad 24 hours at the recount tables, Al Franken got a bit of seemingly good news from a Maplewood mistake. By David Brauer
Franken Camp's Claim: We're Now Ahead!
tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com - 12/3/2008
Franken Camp's Claim: We're Now Ahead!
— tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com — In a briefing going on right now with reporters, Al Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias made... a stunning announcement: According to the campaign's methodology of tracking the recount results, they believe Al Franken now leads Norm Coleman by a ... (more) Franken Camp's Claim: We're Now Ahead!

Comments vote down Talking Points Memo found this 12/3/2008found this
briefingroom.thehill.com - 12/1/2008
Franken May Ask Senate to Intervene in Minn. Recount
— briefingroom.thehill.com — Democrat Al Franken's campaign said Monday that as many as 1,000 absentee ballots were improperly disqualified in... Minnesota's Senate race, and that it may appeal to courts or the U.S. Senate to order those ballots counted. "Wherever the numbers stand ... (more) Franken May Ask Senate to Intervene in Minn. Recount

Comments vote down The Page by Mark Halperin found this 12/1/2008found this
huffingtonpost.com - 12/3/2008
Franken Ahead 22 Votes Now, Campaign Says
— huffingtonpost.com — Aides to Al Franken's senatorial campaign announced on Wednesday that, for the first time since the recount... began, they were actually ahead of Sen. Norm Coleman. Speaking on a conference call with reporters, Franken's chief counsel Marc Elias said ... (more) Franken Ahead 22 Votes Now, Campaign Says

Comments vote down The Latest on Air America found this 12/3/2008found this

Blog Reactions

TPM Election Central:  Could Newly Discovered Ballots Throw Recount To Franken?

Political Animal:  Franken catches a break?

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Blog Reactions

Could Newly Discovered Ballots Throw Recount To Franken?
TPM Election Central — ... It's simply not conceivable that these ballots alone would deliver Franken the win -- he's not going to carry all of them, but would instead get a small edge. As the local site MinnPost.com calculates, these ballots could give Franken a net gain of 12 votes, assuming they break in the same percentages as the rest of the precinct did. ...

Franken catches a break?
Political Animal — ... remain under investigation. The ballot counter malfunctioned after 171 ballots had been feed into the machine, Mansky said. When the machinery was replaced, the ballots were in the ballot box but went uncounted until today's recount. Of course, it's extremely unlikely that all 171 uncounted ballots will go to Franken; he may, however, be positioned to narrow the gap against Coleman a little more. If this precinct was similar to those around it, Franken would pick up a net gain for about 12 votes . And what kind of gap would that leave? According to the Franken campaign, the ...

Related: el franken recount, franken maplewood
It's Official: Franken Picks Up Three Dozen New Votes!
tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com 12/2/2008 — This is huge. It's now official that Al Franken netted 37 votes from those newly-discovered 171 ballots in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, a potentially seismic shift that could throw the recount to Franken if these numbers withstand any potential ...
Franken Camp Claims Race Still Narrowing, Accuses Coleman Of Recount Shenanigans
tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com 11/26/2008 — Is Al Franken actually gaining on Norm Coleman from the recount? That's what the Franken campaign just argued in a reporters' briefing -- and they accuse the Coleman campaign of gaming the system to cover it up. The public numbers from the Star ...
Minnesota Recount: Good news/bad news
hotair.com 11/26/2008 — We’ll start with the good news in the Minnesota Recount, at least from Norm Coleman’s perspective. The expected gain for Al Franken in the heavily DFL counties of Hennepin (Minneapolis) and Ramsey (St. [...] Read the rest »
Franken Camp: Margin Now 84 Votes, Ballots Still Missing
huffingtonpost.com 11/26/2008 — The Franken campaign, citing internal numbers, say the recount election deficit that they face against Sen. Norm Coleman is now down to a mere 84 votes. The results, announced by Franken's chief counsel, Marc Elias, present a mixed bag of sorts ...
Franken Coleman Recount
campaignsilo.firedoglake.com 11/26/2008 — The Coleman campaign continued its addition-by-subtraction campaign, challenging considerably more ballots than Franken's people did today in order to create an artificial "lead" of 231 (per the StarTribune ). Franken's campaign claims ...
Minnesota Senate Recount, Update IX
powerlineblog.com 11/27/2008 — The Coleman campaign has just issued the following press release that confirms the nightmare scenarios sketched out by John Fund in his Wall Street Journal column today: ST. PAUL - Hours after the Franken campaign failed to convince the ...
Coleman Lawyers Up
powerlineblog.com 11/28/2008 — With the Thanksgiving holiday, there hasn't been much news in the Senate recount contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. The Minneapolis Star Tribune shows Coleman with a 282-vote lead, with 88 percent of ballots recounted. It seems clear at ...
Franken-Coleman Recount: Searching for Spines
campaignsilo.firedoglake.com 12/1/2008 — Last Friday morning, I reported that the state canvassing board had avoided making a ruling that would commit them to reviewing the thousands of rejected absentee ballots in the November 4 election . This action is cowardly in the extreme, being ...
Minnesota Recount: Looking grim for Franken
hotair.com 12/1/2008 — Read this post »
Franken Takes The Lead In MN?
nicedeb.wordpress.com 12/2/2008 — Yes, according to the MN Secretary of State Website: 5% (3872 of 4130) Last update was: 12/1/2008 8:00:01 PM Statewide Recount Results for US Senate Totals Nov. 4 Ballots Cast for Norm Coleman 1103291 Nov. 4 Ballots Cast for Al ...
If You Can't Win, Change The Rules
redstate.com 12/2/2008 — Since the recount in Minnesota is going badly for Al Franken, he is contemplating asking the Senate to intervene . To be sure, the Senate has the Constitutional authority to do so but few things could de-legitimize Franken more than having a ...
Al Franken Not Likely To Give Up Until Securing Fishy 'Victory'
radioequalizer.blogspot.com 12/2/2008 — UNDERESTIMATING AL Franken Loss Would Be Too Significant For Dems To Tolerate With US Senator Norm Coleman's lead in the Minnesota recount actually growing as the effort comes to a close ( he's now up by 340 votes ), some are beginning to ...
Al Franken's last resort...
powerlineblog.com 12/2/2008 — is an attack on the result based on the rejection of certain absentee ballots from the tabulation. Franken now anticipates losing the recount. And Franken stands ready to call on the Senate to reject the result he anticipates in the recount.  ...
Minnesota Recount: Franken retreats on challenges
hotair.com 12/2/2008 — Read this post »
New Signs That Recount Momentum May Be Swinging Back To Franken
tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com 12/2/2008 — There are three big pieces of news just out now, from a Franken campaign press briefing, that could potentially signal a comeback for him in this long-running election vote-count: • Under the campaign's methodology , Franken narrowed the margin ...
Reid weighs in on Franken recount
politico.com 12/2/2008 — Harry Reid has weighed in for the first time on the Minnesota recount, insisting that the canvassing board go one step further in counting absentee ballots in question. “Today's decision by the Minnesota Canvassing Board not to count certain ...
Franken's Good Day Shifts Odds on Recount
fivethirtyeight.com 12/3/2008 — Since our post earlier this afternoon suggesting that Norm Coleman was the slight favorite to win the re-count , Al Franken has gotten three pieces of good news which cloud the picture and may tilt the probabilities in his favor. The first is that, ...
Franken Claims Lead in Senate Recount
politicalwire.com 12/4/2008 — Al Franken's (D) campaign said that the comedian has taken the lead in his race against Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), according to The Hill . Franken "has been pressing for the media to focus on the campaign's internal vote totals of the recount, which ...
MN-Sen: Found ballots net Franken 37 new votes — Daily Kos
Fantastic news . It's now official that Al Franken netted 37 votes from those newly-discovered 171 ballots in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, a potentially seismic shift that could throw the recount to Franken if these numbers withstand any potential legal challenges. Ramsey County ...
Minnesota Race Continues to Perplex — Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
In case you haven’t been following Al Franken’s fortunes in Minnesota’s ongoing recount, here’s a brief recap: He was down, but not by much, then down by less and, a little later, even less, then he claimed to be up, but now it looks like he’s down again, but ...
Minneapolis discovery costs Franken 44 votes — Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News
Source: [b]Twin Cities[/b] What Maplewood giveth, Minneapolis taketh away. Elections officials in Minnesota's largest city today discovered that one precinct came up 133 ballots short of election day totals, resulting in a net loss for Democratic challenger Al Franken of 44 votes. The ...
Franken reportedly ahead by 22 votes in recount. — Think Progress
Democratic senatorial candidate Al Franken has “ unexpectedly picked up 37 votes due to a combined machine malfunction and human error on Election Day.” Today, Franken’s counsel Marc Elias said Franken is now up 22 votes , with “approximately 138,000 ballots left to ...
Franken Claims Lead in Minnesota Recount — Drudge Retort
Al Franken now leads Sen. Norm Coleman by a margin of 22 votes in the recount of the Minnesota Senate election, his lead recount lawyer Marc Elias claimed today in a conference call with reporters.
MN-Sen: Franken camp claims the lead — Daily Kos
Spin ? In a briefing going on right now with reporters, Al Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias made a stunning announcement: According to the campaign's methodology of tracking the recount results, they believe Al Franken now leads Norm Coleman by a margin of 22 votes. This would be the ...
Franken Camp: We're Ahead! — Talking Points Memo
The topsy-turvy Minnesota Senate race just took another twist when the Al Franken camp announced on a conference call with reporters that it believes Franken is now ahead of Sen. Norman Coleman in the recount -- by less than two dozen votes. This is predicated on the Franken camp's ...
171 uncounted ballots turn up; gain for Franken — Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News
Source: [b]Star Tribune[/b] The final day of recounting in Ramsey County in the U.S. Senate race kicked up controversy today when 171 uncounted ballots from Maplewood turned up. The ballots apparently had been uncounted because of a ballot-counting-machine malfunction on Election Day.  ...
Newly-Discovered Ballots Boost Franken — Power Line
A precinct in Maplewood, a St. Paul suburb, discovered 171 ballots that had not previously been counted earlier today. Apparently the precinct started using one electronic machine, which malfunctioned after 171 ballots had been cast. The precinct switched to another machine, but until now, it ...
Minnesota: 37 New Votes For Franken Found — Politics Daily
On Ramsey County's last recount day, 171 previously uncounted ballots were discovered , from which Al Franken gained a potentially game-changing 37 net new votes. Like so much of the Minnesota Senate race, the ballots came with their own controversy as well. It appears that the total number of ...
Coleman/Franken Recount Update — The Corner on National Review Online
I just got back from a briefing at the National Democratic Senatorial Committee with Marc Elias, the lead recount attorney for Al Franken. Elias asserts that the recount is actually much closer than what's been reported recently due to a couple of factors. One, the numbers reported in ...
Franken campaign says recount margin down to 50 votes — Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News
Source: [b]RawStory[/b] [div class="excerpt"]Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken's campaign says he trails Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by just 50 votes as the recount of ballots in Minnesota nears its conclusion. Marc Elias, the Franken campaign's lead attorney, told reporters the ...
Al Franken's last gasp — Betsy's Page
Now that the Minnesota recount seems to be winding down with decreasing hope of Franken pulling it out, Al Franken is starting to bare a new tactic of hoping his Democratic pals in the Senate would overturn the results. Since the Constitution gives each house in Congress the final power to judge ...
Franken to Take Senate Fight to … the Senate — Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
Still locked in a bitter recount battle for the right to represent Minnesota in the upper house, Al Franken’s lawyer says he might take the matter directly to the Senate, which the Constitution allows to be the “Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own ...
Franken Camp: We're Down 73 Votes, Will Pursue Legal Actions If Needed — Politics on HuffingtonPost.com
The Minnesota Senate recount is getting incredibly tight. According to officials from the Al Franken campaign, the margin separating the Democratic challenger and Sen. Norm Coleman is now down to 73 votes out of approximately 2.9 million cast. Several weeks into the recount, 88.6% of the ...
Franken Camp: We're Down 73 Votes, May Pursue Legal Action — The Huffington Post | Full News Feed
The Minnesota Senate recount is getting incredibly tight. According to officials from the Al Franken campaign, the margin separating the Democratic challenger and Sen. Norm Coleman is now down to 73 votes out of approximately 2.9 million cast. Several weeks into the recount, 88.6% of the ...
Things Aren’t Looking Food For Franken In The Senate Recount — Say Anything
The margins are still slim, but at least one election official says Coleman lead is big enough that Franken won’t be overcoming it . While a tiny margin separates the candidates in the Minnesota U.S. Senate race, it is wide enough that Democrat Al Franken faces a daunting task in ...
US Senate Decides Minnesota Election? Franken vs. Coleman — Politics Daily
UPI.com The Minnesota U.S. Senate contest between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken is undergoing a recount, with the candidates separated by less than 300 votes out of 2.9 million cast. But a controversial decision by the state's Elections Canvassing Board ...
Franken-Coleman Recount: It’s The Timelines, Stupid! — Firedoglake
I've decided to channel Emptywheel and start constructing a timeline of sorts for the Franken-Coleman recount. Take a look at this handy chart compiled by Twin Cities blogger Jeff Rosenberg. It shows the ratio of challenges to ballots counted. Notice that for most of the first three days of ...
Sore Loser: Franken Looking To Take Recount To Court — Say Anything
Coleman won the original election, has maintained a lead throughout the recount process, but now with that lead at 300 votes and some 12,000 absentee ballots having been disqualified it looks like Al Franken is going to ask judges to decide the election instead of the voters. ST. PAUL, ...
Franken pulls closer but Coleman still leads — msnbc.com: Politics
Democrat Al Franken caught a couple of breaks Tuesday as the recount in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race drew closer to a finish, though not enough to undo Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's persistent lead.