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Hot Air » Top Picks — ... in spite of everything, thereby depriving us of even a tiny consolation prize. For that, all hope now rests on Minnesota, where Norm Coleman’s clinging to a two-point lead over Stuart Smalley with 72 percent reporting. Still too soon to tell which way ...

Reflections on the elections
The Reaction — ... In Minnesota, in a much-watched race, incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, once thought to be possible veep pick for McCain, barely leads challenger/comedian Al Franken. With almost 2.9 votes cast (and with 100 percent reporting), Coleman is up by just 694 votes (which means it's tied 42-42, with an independent candidate pulling in 15). ...

Will Sen. Franken Be the Final Indignity?
Weekly Standard Blog — Norm Coleman and Al Franken are separated by mere hundreds of votes with 95 percent of precincts reporting. Coleman is currently up about 400 votes, with the Independent candidate garnering 400,000. Michael Barone said earlier in the evening that, given what's left to report, he thought the state would go to Coleman, but my, it is close. On the brighter side, the Oregon senate race is extremely close, with Republican Gordon Smith leading by a hair, but only 45 percent of precincts are reporting.

Senator Al Franken?? Fasten Your Seatbelts Folks…
Patterico's Pontifications — As of 12:53 AM  PST 98% of Minnesota precincts in… Secretary of State’s site: Republican NORM COLEMAN   1,177,879   42.09% Democrat AL FRANKEN            1,171,077   41.85% But CNN says: FRANKEN   1,188,073     42% COLEMAN  1,185,786     42% - Justin Levine

Ace of Spades HQ Decision Desk Makes Two Calls...
Ace of Spades HQ — Ace of Spades HQ Decision Desk Makes Two Calls... A reader, jon, has been spooking me telling me that only pro-Franken Duluth precincts are outstanding. Well, okay, that gave me pause. But in the last several moments Coleman extended his lead from 2500 to 4000+. Not a big jump, but I'm less worried now that there are going to be a sudden surge in Franken votes. So the Ace of Spades Decision Desk calls this for Franken. The Decision Desk also calls ...

Did Norm Coleman win?
Power Line — ... by 1,037 votes out of nearly 3,000,000 votes cast as of 5:41 a.m. (Central) this morning. That's with with 99.71 percent of precincts reporting, leaving 12 precincts out there somewhere to report results. (CNN shows the race even closer with a few more votes counted, with Coleman leading Franken by 613 votes). ...

Razor Thin Margin in Minnesota Senate Race
PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts — With 99% of precincts reporting, CNN has the differential between Coleman and Franken at 762 votes: Coleman 1,210,790 Franken 1,210,028 Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley has 15% of the vote with 437,146, which for US elections is a pretty high total for a third party candidate in such a race. Of course, it should be remembered that Minnesota is that land of Jesse Ventura, who won a three-way race for Governor in 1998. A tidbit from CNN”s bio of Barkley: Barkley has practiced law, worked several jobs and managed ...

The Morning After
JammieWearingFool — ... it's better to take a whipping than to lose on a last-second field goal where you go back and analyze every play to see where it went wrong. This election appeared insurmountable from the get-go and so we congratulate President-elect Obama and the Democrats on their victory. In the end, however, it wasn't quite the bloodbath many forecast, as Obama won by around 52-47%, the Democrats picked up 20 seats at last count in the House, and five in the Senate. And look here we may have a recount somewhere after all, as the up to the minute tally in Minnesota has Norm Coleman ...

Recounting Where Things Stand
Open Left - Front Page — ... Minnesota is headed to a recount. Right now, Coleman leads by 694 votes, with all precincts reporting. The provisional ballots, which always favor Democrats, will come into play as well. Not over by a longshot. ...

Norm Coleman Could Survive by 314 Votes
The Washington Note — ... According to the latest vote results from CNN, Norm Coleman's lead over Al Franken in the initial vote tally has now shrunk to 314 votes.  Under state law, there will be an automatic recount. ...

Coleman: I'm Too Important For A Recount
TalkLeft — ... For the record the "magnitude" of Coleman's lead is 305 votes out of 2,859,891 cast. Or 0.001%. Coleman says that if he was in Al Franken's shoes, he would concede. I submit that he is in Al Franken's shoes - it was a virtual tie. So he can concede if he feels so strongly about it. ...

Razor Thin in MN
Matthew Yglesias — ... Looks like Norm Coleman’s got a 700 vote lead out of over 1.8 million ballots cast. There will be an automatic recount, and I think the provisional ballots wind up coming into play. ...

Reflections on the Elections
The Moderate Voice — ... In Minnesota, in a much-watched race, incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, once thought to be a possible veep pick for McCain, barely leads challenger/comedian Al Franken. With almost 2.9 million votes cast (and with 100 percent reporting), Coleman is up by just 462 votes (which means it’s tied 42-42, with an independent candidate pulling in 15). ...

MN Sen: Coleman's Lead Dwindling, Before The Recount
TalkLeft — ... I can not say I actually understand why, but Norm Coleman's infintesimal lead in the Minnesota Senate race has been dwindling - from nearly 700 votes to 239 votes out of nearly 3 million cast. ...

Gap narrows in Minnesota Senate race, recount looming
The Reaction — By Michael J.W. Stickings Coleman was up by 725 on election night and declared victory on Wednesday, but the gap kept narrowing. I had it at 694 on Wednesday afternoon, then at 462 just a couple of hours later. By yesterday morning, it was 438. It's now at 239: -- Coleman: 1,211,540 -- Franken: 1,211,301 (Or: 42 to 42.) Coleman pressed Franken not to push for a recount, arguing that it ...

Coleman now by.... 239
Corrente — Here.

Minnesota is the new Florida
The Reaction — ... Yes, it's now just a 221-vote lead for Coleman, with the margin narrowing rather significantly even before the upcoming recount. (Which isn't to say that Franken will win the recount, just that it's awfully close going into it.) CNN has the latest results here. ...

Franken edges closer in Minnesota
The Reaction — By Michael J.W. Stickings The Minnesota Senate race, now in its post-election, pre-recount phase, is nothing if not intriguing. I wrote yesterday evening that Coleman's margin over Franken had narrowed to just 239. Well, it's now down to 204, according to the Star Tribune (via Chait) -- though CNN has it at 209 (with five extra votes for Coleman). The CNN figure is newer, updated just minutes ago. So: 209. Which is truly ...

Franken Edges Closer in Minnesota
The Moderate Voice — The Minnesota Senate race, now in its post-election is nothing if not intriguing. I wrote yesterday evening that Coleman’s margin over Franken had narrowed to just 239. Well, it was down this morning to 204, according to the Star Tribune (via Chait), and CNN now has it at 206. Which is truly remarkable, given that almost 2.9 million votes were cast (or have been counted so far), including 437,389 for independent candidate (and Ventura supporter) Dean Barkley. As of right now — 3:30 pm ET — the totals are as ...

POLITICS: Keep Counting Until You Win
Baseball Crank — ... - more than Franken or Norm Coleman, who each got 42% (1.211 million votes). Obviously, a fair number of people on both sides of other races were not as enthused about the two Senate candidates. One reason was that there was a serious third party challenger in the race - Dean Barkley, who got 15% of the vote. A truly accidental undervote could just as easily have been a Barkley voter. This is why it makes sense to count only actual votes as votes. ...

Minnesota Senate Recount -- update 1
The Reaction — ... coming mostly from Franken strongholds like the Twin Cities and the northest part of the state, then one would expect to see Democratic gains. And if that were so, then one could note, pessimistically, that Franken's gains seem to be too small at this point and that Coleman will expand his lead as the recount continues with votes from Coleman strongholds. However, it looks like the votes have come mostly from pro-Coleman counties. Take a look at CNN's map, then at this updated county-by-county count at the Star Tribune. ...

Franken Narrows Coleman’s Lead in Minnesota Senate Recount
The Moderate Voice — ... from. If they’re coming mostly from Franken strongholds like the Twin Cities and the northest part of the state, then one would expect to see Democratic gains. And if that were so, then one could note, pessimistically, that Franken’s gains seem to be too small at this point and that Coleman will expand his lead as the recount continues with votes from Coleman strongholds. However, it looks like the votes have come mostly from pro-Coleman counties. Take a look at CNN’s map, then at this updated county-by-county count at the Star Tribune ...