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Senator Franken

post #1 of 63
1/4/09 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
It seems that Al Franken has won the MN recount by 225 votes and the election will be certified tomorrow.

That' 59 senators and the likely ability to over-ride GOP attempts to filibuster everything, folks.
Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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post #2 of 63
1/4/09 at 1:19pm
Quote:
"Under state law, an election certificate formally naming a winner cannot be issued until all legal disputes are resolved."

I don't think the legal disputes will be resolved by tomorrow.

Also you forget Democratic reasoning, while ONE Republican Senator exists, they can't govern.

Sure 59, 60, 99 votes could attempt to override the veto, but that doesn't stop the attempt to filibuster, just proves it could be overriden if enough people thought it ought not go forward.

However as we NOW know, more Democrats doesn't solve the problem. It makes it worse since their coalition is completely ungovernable. So really to get 60 reliable Democratic votes, you need something like 240 Democratic Senators.

So just as soon as we have 240 Democratic Senators, then Democrats will stop blaming Republicans for not being able to actually govern from the majority. I mean until then, what can you really expect?

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #3 of 63
1/4/09 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman View Post

I don't think the legal disputes will be resolved by tomorrow.

Ah, you're right.

Quote:
Originally Posted by the AP

Coleman hasn't ruled out filing a lawsuit challenging the election result, claiming irregulaties gave Franken an unfair advantage. Coleman's lead lawyer, Fritz Knaak, said the campaign was almost certain to sue.

Quote:
Also you forget Democratic reasoning, while ONE Republican Senator exists, they can't govern.

Without enough votes to override a filibuster, and with Reids stupid cloture votes all over the place, one Republican Senator can shut down the Dems' attempts to govern.

Quote:
Sure 59, 60, 99 votes could attempt to override the veto, but that doesn't stop the attempt to filibuster, just proves it could be overriden if enough people thought it ought not go forward.

Tell you what: you get the GOP to give the Dems one more senator, and let's see what happens, OK?

Quote:
However as we NOW know, more Democrats doesn't solve the problem. It makes it worse since their coalition is completely ungovernable. So really to get 60 reliable Democratic votes, you need something like 240 Democratic Senators.

Didn't you start a thread about Democratic unity a few days ago?
Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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post #4 of 63
1/4/09 at 1:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by midwinter View Post

Ah, you're right.

What is the Frankargent phrase? Quoted for historical reference?

Quote:
Without enough votes to override a filibuster, and with Reids stupid cloture votes all over the place, one Republican Senator can shut down the Dems' attempts to govern.

So see, while the Republican party exists, the Democrats cannot govern from the majority. You admit it too.

Quote:
Tell you what: you get the GOP to give the Dems one more senator, and let's see what happens, OK?

We gave you back Joe, doesn't that count for something?

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Didn't you start a thread about Democratic unity a few days ago?

Yeah and we almost discussed thoughts and ideas in it but then Jimmac told me I need to "get over it" and that Obama won eight times, and Artman filled it with pictures of ass cracks.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #5 of 63
1/4/09 at 1:47pm
Ain't it funny. When the Republicans win in two blatantly fraudulent elections, and the Democrats gather a nanogram of spine to lodge the most mealy-mouthed of complaints, all the Republicans have to say is "deal with it, sore loser"... and the Dems instantly back off, as if someone behind a curtain threw a switch. Turn the tables (and in this case there is little indication of fraud by either side), the Republicans turn to lawsuit after lawsuit... you know, using the law, whatever that is supposed to mean after the last 8 years...
"We've never made the case, or argued the case that somehow Osama bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming". VP Cheney, 3/29/2006. Interview by Tony Snow
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"We've never made the case, or argued the case that somehow Osama bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming". VP Cheney, 3/29/2006. Interview by Tony Snow
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post #6 of 63
1/4/09 at 1:48pm
Al Franken should not be riding private planes.
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post #7 of 63
1/4/09 at 1:55pm
The last time I tuned into the Franken/Coleman debacle, 1000 new votes had been 'discovered' and they were miraculously for Franken. Of course, there was no thread here discussing that.

This only confirms to me that Americans have completely lost the ability to govern free and fair elections. If an election takes place in early November and the first count takes place in one night, a recount that drags into January should obviously recount all the ballots.

Canada has its own problems, but I thank the Lord our process isn't as messed up as yours.
The evil that we fight is but the shadow of the evil that we do.
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The evil that we fight is but the shadow of the evil that we do.
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post #8 of 63
1/4/09 at 2:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post

The last time I tuned into the Franken/Coleman debacle, 1000 new votes had been 'discovered' and they were miraculously for Franken. Of course, there was no thread here discussing that.

This only confirms to me that Americans have completely lost the ability to govern free and fair elections. If an election takes place in early November and the first count takes place in one night, a recount that drags into January should obviously recount all the ballots.

Canada has its own problems, but I thank the Lord our process isn't as messed up as yours.

Absentee ballots will do that, sometimes. I mean, you're just sitting there, counting ballots, and POW! You turn around and there's 1000 absentee ballots!

Also, it might be useful to note that twice as many people voted for Obama as LIVE in Canada. And nearly twice as many people voted for McCain as live in Canada. When there's high turnout, there will be issues.
Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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post #9 of 63
1/4/09 at 2:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sammi jo View Post

Ain't it funny. When the Republicans win in two blatantly fraudulent elections, and the Democrats gather a nanogram of spine to lodge the most mealy-mouthed of complaints, all the Republicans have to say is "deal with it, sore loser"... and the Dems instantly back off, as if someone behind a curtain threw a switch. Turn the tables (and in this case there is little indication of fraud by either side), the Republicans turn to lawsuit after lawsuit... you know, using the law, whatever that is supposed to mean after the last 8 years...

You mean like in Washington with Rossi and with Coleman this year?

Oh wait...

Why is it that all the "discovered" ballots, you know the ones that happen to keep being more than the number of people that voted, are all Democratic?

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #10 of 63
1/4/09 at 2:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman View Post

You mean like in Washington with Rossi and with Coleman this year?

Oh wait...

Why is it that all the "discovered" ballots, you know the ones that happen to keep being more than the number of people that voted, are all Democratic?

So what you are saying is 'the Democrats are committing election fraud', correct?

You're saying that it's a fact that the Democrats are cheating.

Is this right?
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post #11 of 63
1/4/09 at 2:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by midwinter View Post

Absentee ballots will do that, sometimes. I mean, you're just sitting there, counting ballots, and POW! You turn around and there's 1000 absentee ballots!

Also, it might be useful to note that twice as many people voted for Obama as LIVE in Canada. And nearly twice as many people voted for McCain as live in Canada. When there's high turnout, there will be issues.

This has nothing to do with Obama's election. While I'm sure there were issues, I didn't hear of anyone finding thousands of votes in a box that defied the mathematics and probabilities of the areas being polled.

High turnout does not negate the laws of math and electoral science. The idea that a box of votes that contained almost exclusively Democratic votes was excluded (despite the presence of Democratic monitors at poll stations) is hilariously unlikely.

Both parties have elements within them that don't hesitate to play outside the rulebook.
It is unfortunate that only one side gets called out on it, guaranteeing such nonsense will continue.
The evil that we fight is but the shadow of the evil that we do.
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The evil that we fight is but the shadow of the evil that we do.
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post #12 of 63
1/4/09 at 2:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post

This has nothing to do with Obama's election. While I'm sure there were issues, I didn't hear of anyone finding thousands of votes in a box that defied the mathematics and probabilities of the areas being polled.

High turnout does not negate the laws of math and electoral science. The idea that a box of votes that contained almost exclusively Democratic votes was excluded (despite the presence of Democratic monitors at poll stations) is hilariously unlikely.

Both parties have elements within them that don't hesitate to play outside the rulebook.
It is unfortunate that only one side gets called out on it, guaranteeing such nonsense will continue.

Is there an actual link to this 1000 or 2000 ballots for Franken?

I mean if these were indeed absentee ballots, and weren't machine readable, I would assume that the original counting would have separated the absentee ballots into their respective Franken, Coleman, et. al. piles.

If the above were the case, it does not make any sense to reshuffle these ballots into a random pile.

Therefore if a pile of previously counted absentee ballots were to mysteriously appear, one would expect the pile to have some order to it.

Also, if this story is true what has the MN election commission ruled on this matter?
Every eye fixed itself upon him; with parted lips and bated breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale. NOT!
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Every eye fixed itself upon him; with parted lips and bated breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale. NOT!
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post #13 of 63
1/4/09 at 3:39pm
Stolen election.
The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long. - Foudad Ajami
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The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long. - Foudad Ajami
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post #14 of 63
1/4/09 at 4:29pm
That's rich. Particularly after Republicans have been bitch slapping Democrats for the last eight years over Florida/Ohio.
"The selfishness of Ayn Rand capitalism is the equivalent of intellectual masturbation -- satisfying in an ego-stroking way, but an ethical void when it comes to our commonly shared humanity."
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"The selfishness of Ayn Rand capitalism is the equivalent of intellectual masturbation -- satisfying in an ego-stroking way, but an ethical void when it comes to our commonly shared humanity."
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post #15 of 63
1/4/09 at 4:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FloorJack View Post

Stolen election.

Thats the way things are done these days. Deal with it!
"We've never made the case, or argued the case that somehow Osama bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming". VP Cheney, 3/29/2006. Interview by Tony Snow
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"We've never made the case, or argued the case that somehow Osama bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming". VP Cheney, 3/29/2006. Interview by Tony Snow
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post #16 of 63
1/4/09 at 9:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hassan i Sabbah View Post

So what you are saying is 'the Democrats are committing election fraud', correct? You're saying that it's a fact that the Democrats are cheating. Is this right?

Well, he had proof! ...oh wait.
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post #17 of 63
1/4/09 at 9:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FloorJack View Post

Stolen election.

Well you convinced me. Citations and all. ...oh wait.

You'll still have time to find some anyway, the state Canvassing Board will reconvene Monday to declare which candidate received the most overall votes in the election.
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post #18 of 63
1/5/09 at 2:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by @_@ Artman View Post

Well you convinced me. Citations and all. ...oh wait.

You'll still have time to find some anyway, the state Canvassing Board will reconvene Monday to declare which candidate received the most overall votes in the election.

OK. So both Nick and scott_h are saying that the Democrats have committed election fraud and have stolen this election.

Firstly, I'd just like to say 'Oh, get over it.'

That feels good.

Secondly, please explain how (with links to your favourite conservative blogs if you like) this was accomplished.
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post #19 of 63
1/5/09 at 3:47am
You could just say MoveOn?


I always find it funny that those around here that claim the moral high ground and pretend to be supremely aware of the world always come to topics from a place of complete ignorance. Do you guys read news other than DailyKos and PuffHo?

Franken stole this one the old fashion way. Count, recount, find "forgotten" ballots, find more, enhance ballots and run them through again, replace spoiled ballots with new ones and don't replace the "spoiled" one, find more ... keep recounting until your guys wins.
The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long. - Foudad Ajami
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The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long. - Foudad Ajami
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post #20 of 63
1/5/09 at 3:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FloorJack View Post

You could just say MoveOn?


I always find it funny that those around here that claim the moral high ground and pretend to be supremely aware of the world always come to topics from a place of complete ignorance. Do you guys read news other than DailyKos and PuffHo?

Franken stole this one the old fashion way. Count, recount, find "forgotten" ballots, find more, enhance ballots and run them through again, replace spoiled ballots with new ones and don't replace the "spoiled" one, find more ... keep recounting until your guys wins.

Oh, get over it.

(I will never tire of saying that.)

And your evidence is..?
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post #21 of 63
1/5/09 at 4:16am
So he explains how it was done and your refutation of it is "get over it?"

This happened in both Washington and Minnesota. The dead vote, felons vote, you find groups of ballots where the polling station is the address, they have the wrong time stamp and the liberal judge in the liberal county in which they are found "allows it." They do this to the tune of 25-50 a week and several weeks later you've accumulated hundreds of ballots and overturned the election.

Wall Street Journal

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #22 of 63
1/5/09 at 4:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman View Post

So he explains how it was done and your refutation of it is "get over it?"

This happened in both Washington and Minnesota. The dead vote, felons vote, you find groups of ballots where the polling station is the address, they have the wrong time stamp and the liberal judge in the liberal county in which they are found "allows it." They do this to the tune of 25-50 a week and several weeks later you've accumulated hundreds of ballots and overturned the election.

Wall Street Journal

Well, this sounds easy to prove.

And your evidence is..?
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post #23 of 63
1/5/09 at 4:32am
Read the link much?

Quote:
In Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, at least 1,392 felons illegally voted, 252 provisional ballots were wrongly counted, and 19 votes were cast from beyond the grave, according to Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges's opinion in a case brought by Dino Rossi, Ms. Gregoire's Republican opponent.

Election workers in King County (where Seattle is located) "enhanced" 55,177 ballots to make it easier for tabulating machines to read them -- even though the county had failed to establish written procedures as required by state law. In some cases, individual election workers modified voted ballots using black felt markers and white-out tape while observers were kept at a distance that prevented meaningful observation. Nine separate times, King County "discovered" and counted unsecured ballots.

Nevertheless, Ms. Gregoire lost to Mr. Rossi by 261 votes.

An automatic recount reduced Mr. Rossi's lead to just 42 votes. The Gregoire campaign demanded a state-wide hand recount, a time-consuming and expensive process that state law says the challenger must pay for (if the result changes, the challenger is reimbursed). Big labor unions joined with far-left groups like MoveOn.org to put up the money for Ms. Gregoire's third-time's-the-charm ballot shuffle.

During the recount process, five counties found new, uncounted, unsecured ballots and added them into their totals. King County officials admitted publicly that ballot reconciliation reports were falsified in an attempt to conceal variations between the number of votes counted and the number of voters who voted (two elections workers were disciplined as a result).

By the end, 3,539 votes more than the number of voters who voted were tabulated. Four other swing counties provided an additional 4,880 mystery ballots. Ms. Gregoire was the victor by a margin of 133 votes.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #24 of 63
1/5/09 at 4:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman View Post

Read the link much?

That's nice.

And your evidence that Al Franken stole the election is..?
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post #25 of 63
1/5/09 at 4:59am
Well in most instances, we would use these news organization thingies to find the information, but they are busy checking on Palin's third cousin and telling us how much they miss Richardson's beard.

So go to Powerlineblog.com and they have been following it fairly regularly.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #26 of 63
1/5/09 at 5:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman View Post

Well in most instances, we would use these news organization thingies to find the information, but they are busy checking on Palin's third cousin and telling us how much they miss Richardson's beard.

So go to Powerlineblog.com and they have been following it fairly regularly.


Nice unbiased website!
Without the need for difference or a need to always follow the herd breeds complacency, mediocrity, and a lack of imagination
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Without the need for difference or a need to always follow the herd breeds complacency, mediocrity, and a lack of imagination
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post #27 of 63
1/5/09 at 6:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmac View Post

Nice unbiased website!

Well, to be fair, I did say he could provide links to his favourite conservative blogs, and he was kind enough to do just that.
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post #28 of 63
1/5/09 at 6:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman View Post

So go to Powerlineblog.com and they have been following it fairly regularly.

You really read this crap? It's like a freepers version of PrisonPlanet.
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post #29 of 63
1/5/09 at 6:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by @_@ Artman View Post

You really read this crap? It's like a freepers version of PrisonPlanet.

Of course he reads this crap. He writes this kind of crap on his own blog.
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post #30 of 63
1/5/09 at 6:42am
Thread Starter 
When I close my eyes, I see this thing, a sign, I see this name in bright blue neon lights with a purple outline. And this name is so bright and so sharp that the sign - it just blows up because the name is so powerful. It says

POWERLINE.
Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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post #31 of 63
1/5/09 at 6:57am
Bsssssssttttzzzzzzzzzzztttttrtzttztztztztztztzttzt ztztzttzzzzz

POWERLINE
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post #32 of 63
1/5/09 at 7:01am
What happened to the ferocious moderation of just a few months ago? I guess we're back to 'anything goes'.
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post #33 of 63
1/5/09 at 7:05am
Let me sum up the this thread. Liberal ignorance is proof of no evidence.
The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long. - Foudad Ajami
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The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long. - Foudad Ajami
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post #34 of 63
1/5/09 at 7:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FloorJack View Post

Let me sum up the this thread. Liberal ignorance is proof of no evidence.

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post #35 of 63
1/5/09 at 7:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by @_@ Artman View Post

You really read this crap? It's like a freepers version of PrisonPlanet.

I read it on occasion. Sure, I mean between my articles from AP noting what a fantastic guy Bill Richardson is with his beard, how many strokes Obama wants to take off his golf game while exploring his abs, and flattering Time "Man of the Year" pieces featuring handrolled "cigarettes" and panama hats, I actually like to get some information on how the hell the votes in Minnesota are being counted.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hassan i Sabbah View Post

Of course he reads this crap. He writes this kind of crap on his own blog.

Yeah, I also note things like we are going to start off the Obama administration with spending packages that start with a "T" for trillion that no one has read.

Lack of reading, it is the reason that wonderful folks in the Obama cabinet like Hillary Clinton gave for why they were so easily fooled into a war by monkey boy Bush on his "evil, lying" war they just happened to vote for, but didn't really understand.

People like me need to explain things like that to you because you give these folks a pass because of their "good intentions." Enable a war, it's okay because we really know you wanted peace and that bad man lied to you. Vote for trillions without reading it, it's okay because it is part of that nice "hope and change" and it is for a "good cause."

Quote:
Originally Posted by midwinter View Post

When I close my eyes, I see this thing, a sign, I see this name in bright blue neon lights with a purple outline. And this name is so bright and so sharp that the sign - it just blows up because the name is so powerful. It says

POWERLINE.

I thought it said Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Huffington Post, or Eshaton?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hassan i Sabbah View Post

Bsssssssttttzzzzzzzzzzztttttrtzttztztztztztztzttzt ztztzttzzzzz

POWERLINE

Maybe I should tell them to change their name to Chief Missionary

Quote:
Originally Posted by Outsider View Post

What happened to the ferocious moderation of just a few months ago? I guess we're back to 'anything goes'.

I guess so because I'm watching the same images and the same people trash every thread with their same crap. I mean posting "Obama won, get over it" or "How many more days" in every thread is spamming in my book.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #36 of 63
1/5/09 at 7:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trumptman View Post

I read it on occasion. Sure, I mean between my articles from AP noting what a fantastic guy Bill Richardson is with his beard, how many strokes Obama wants to take off his golf game while exploring his abs, and flattering Time "Man of the Year" pieces featuring handrolled "cigarettes" and panama hats, I actually like to get some information on how the hell the votes in Minnesota are being counted.

I tend to check a paper/site with an overall view of what and how they report there stories. Headlines can be telling...

Let's scan a few headlines there at POWERLINE..."Trouble In Mullah-Land", "Hitler and Hamas: A comparison", "More Useful Idiots"...

Also, their latest report on the re-count seems to show more speculation on their part and the possibility that they are WRONG.

Quote:
JOHN adds: That may well prove to be right, and I agree that the gain Franken made today was surprising. It is possible, however, that the ballots opened so far--the ones on which the campaigns were able to agree--may be biased in Franken's favor. Franken's campaign was aggressive about getting lists of voters whose ballots were excluded, checking those lists against the DFL database, and interviewing voters who they thought were sympathetic. My impression is that the Coleman campaign was nowhere near as aggressive in trying to identify rejected ballots that favor their candidate. It may be, therefore, that Franken's campaign consistently agreed to include ballots that they knew were for their candidate while objecting (regardless of the merits) to ballots that they believed were for Coleman. If that's the case, the remaining ballots (i.e., those on which the campaigns did not agree) may tend to favor Coleman. That's speculation, of course, but at the moment some such scenario will have to be true for Coleman to have a chance.

When they have evidence that isn't hanging by a thread. Get back to us.
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post #37 of 63
1/5/09 at 8:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Outsider View Post

What happened to the ferocious moderation of just a few months ago? I guess we're back to 'anything goes'.

I read every post and every report.
--Johnny
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--Johnny
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post #38 of 63
1/5/09 at 9:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by lundy View Post

I read every post and every report.

AHHHHHH!!!!!! Oh, sorry dude, you scared me just jumping out like that....
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They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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post #39 of 63
1/5/09 at 10:55am
WSJ

Strange things keep happening in Minnesota, where the disputed recount in the Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken may be nearing a dubious outcome. Thanks to the machinations of Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and a meek state Canvassing Board, Mr. Franken may emerge as an illegitimate victor.

Mr. Franken started the recount 215 votes behind Senator Coleman, but he now claims a 225-vote lead and suddenly the man who was insisting on "counting every vote" wants to shut the process down. He's getting help from Mr. Ritchie and his four fellow Canvassing Board members, who have delivered inconsistent rulings and are ignoring glaring problems with the tallies.

Under Minnesota law, election officials are required to make a duplicate ballot if the original is damaged during Election Night counting. Officials are supposed to mark these as "duplicate" and segregate the original ballots. But it appears some officials may have failed to mark ballots as duplicates, which are now being counted in addition to the originals. This helps explain why more than 25 precincts now have more ballots than voters who signed in to vote. By some estimates this double counting has yielded Mr. Franken an additional 80 to 100 votes.

This disenfranchises Minnesotans whose vote counted only once. And one Canvassing Board member, State Supreme Court Justice G. Barry Anderson, has acknowledged that "very likely there was a double counting." Yet the board insists that it lacks the authority to question local officials and it is merely adding the inflated numbers to the totals.

In other cases, the board has been flagrantly inconsistent. Last month, Mr. Franken's campaign charged that one Hennepin County (Minneapolis) precinct had "lost" 133 votes, since the hand recount showed fewer ballots than machine votes recorded on Election Night. Though there is no proof to this missing vote charge -- officials may have accidentally run the ballots through the machine twice on Election Night -- the Canvassing Board chose to go with the Election Night total, rather than the actual number of ballots in the recount. That decision gave Mr. Franken a gain of 46 votes.

Meanwhile, a Ramsey County precinct ended up with 177 more ballots than there were recorded votes on Election Night. In that case, the board decided to go with the extra ballots, rather than the Election Night total, even though the county is now showing more ballots than voters in the precinct. This gave Mr. Franken a net gain of 37 votes, which means he's benefited both ways from the board's inconsistency.

And then there are the absentee ballots. The Franken campaign initially howled that some absentee votes had been erroneously rejected by local officials. Counties were supposed to review their absentees and create a list of those they believed were mistakenly rejected. Many Franken-leaning counties did so, submitting 1,350 ballots to include in the results. But many Coleman-leaning counties have yet to complete a re-examination. Despite this lack of uniformity, and though the state Supreme Court has yet to rule on a Coleman request to standardize this absentee review, Mr. Ritchie's office nonetheless plowed through the incomplete pile of 1,350 absentees this weekend, padding Mr. Franken's edge by a further 176 votes.

Both campaigns have also suggested that Mr. Ritchie's office made mistakes in tabulating votes that had been challenged by either of the campaigns. And the Canvassing Board appears to have applied inconsistent standards in how it decided some of these challenged votes -- in ways that, again on net, have favored Mr. Franken.

The question is how the board can certify a fair and accurate election result given these multiple recount problems. Yet that is precisely what the five members seem prepared to do when they meet today. Some members seem to have concluded that because one of the candidates will challenge the result in any event, why not get on with it and leave it to the courts? Mr. Coleman will certainly have grounds to contest the result in court, but he'll be at a disadvantage given that courts are understandably reluctant to overrule a certified outcome.

Meanwhile, Minnesota's other Senator, Amy Klobuchar, is already saying her fellow Democrats should seat Mr. Franken when the 111th Congress begins this week if the Canvassing Board certifies him as the winner. This contradicts Minnesota law, which says the state cannot award a certificate of election if one party contests the results. Ms. Klobuchar is trying to create the public perception of a fait accompli, all the better to make Mr. Coleman look like a sore loser and build pressure on him to drop his legal challenge despite the funny recount business.

Minnesotans like to think that their state isn't like New Jersey or Louisiana, and typically it isn't. But we can't recall a similar recount involving optical scanning machines that has changed so many votes, and in which nearly every crucial decision worked to the advantage of the same candidate. The Coleman campaign clearly misjudged the politics here, and the apparent willingness of a partisan like Mr. Ritchie to help his preferred candidate, Mr. Franken. If the Canvassing Board certifies Mr. Franken as the winner based on the current count, it will be anointing a tainted and undeserving Senator.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell

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post #40 of 63
1/5/09 at 12:57pm
So...Franken used the Republican playbook from Florida 2000 to "steal" the election? Is that what you guys are pissed about?
"The selfishness of Ayn Rand capitalism is the equivalent of intellectual masturbation -- satisfying in an ego-stroking way, but an ethical void when it comes to our commonly shared humanity."
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"The selfishness of Ayn Rand capitalism is the equivalent of intellectual masturbation -- satisfying in an ego-stroking way, but an ethical void when it comes to our commonly shared humanity."
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