Franken camp now says it's in the lead by 22 votes

[Seen the light]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1208/Franken_camp_claims_its_in_the_lead.html

Al Franken’s campaign attorney Marc Elias said today that, based on its latest internal tally, Franken has taken the lead over Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn,) for the first time in the recount process.

In a conference call, Elias said Franken leads Coleman by 22 votes at the end of last night’s count.

“We are ahead by 22 votes at the close of business at the end of last night,” Elias said. “We continue to believe we will gain votes during the challenge and review process, and feel good generally where we stand in the recount.”

The official Secretary of State’s count shows Coleman leading by Franken by 303 votes, with over 6,000 ballots disputed by both camps. The Franken campaign has argued the number is misleading, given that none of the disputed ballots are included in that tally. The Franken tally assumes the challenges from both camps are invalid.

Franken's camp was greatly aided when Ramsey County officials found 171 ballots that went uncounted Election Night. That netted Franken 37 votes, and is currently larger than his current lead, according to Franken's count.

Elias also said the campaign will be withdrawing certain challenges to ballots “where appropriate” to expedite the process of sorting the disputed ballots, which will begin December 16.

The Coleman campaign has disputed the Franken numbers.

[PBS Poll-435]

1. Whoa! Awesome!

Damn You Nate Silver!!!!!111!!!!


:)

[nini]

2. didn't 538.com say he'd win by about 25 or so

hmmmm

I hope this holds up.

[polichick]

12. Yep - I think it was 27.

[mvd]

13. Me too - I think it will if the votes are counted fairly

And much to the dismay of Repukes, they will be.

[Occam Bandage]

3. Everyone's just posturing for the cameras.

In reality, Franken's numbers, the Strib's numbers, the SoS's numbers, and Coleman's numbers are all meaningless. There are challenged ballots to sort out, decisions to be appealed, and court cases to be decided, and those will determine who wins. Nobody has the slightest clue who's going to win this--but both Coleman and Franken have an interest in getting public pressure on their side.

[bunkerbuster1]

4. 5 more votes, and Nate Silver is officially GAWD.

Just sayin'.

[Occam Bandage]

5. Assuming that there are no court cases, and that challenged ballots have not been.

Both of which are already false.

[bunkerbuster1]

14. Just having a bit of fun.

I know this is nowhere near over.

[leftist.]

6. Occam is right, we need to wait for something more official, but ...

I've been enjoying hate radio pushing the "Coleman is ahead by 337 votes" meme in order to facilitate the upcoming "Franken stole it" meme.

[Occam Bandage]

9. And that's why Franken is pushing this number--for the same reason as Coleman.

Both candidates are aware that they will be politically weak if/when they head to Washington. The last thing either wants is for the public to believe that their opponent was ahead in the actual vote, but that they "stole it by playing the courts."

[DCBob]

7. Holy crap! Is this for real?

I need to see some numbers.

[DCBob]

8. Star Tribune still shows Coleman ahead by 303. Sup?

http://ww2.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/returns/2008/recount/msenco.html

[Occam Bandage]

10. Read the article in the OP.

The Strib's count is based of the SoS's count, though it plugs in the old numbers for precincts yet to be recounted, while the SoS does not. Challenged ballots are not counted either way. Franken's count returns all the challenged ballots to their original candidate. No number is meaningful, since those six thousand ballots are going to be sorted through. Many will be decided as non-votes, many will be returned to their original candidate, and some will be swapped. Plus, there's still outstanding court cases, and I'd be surprised if no more were filed.

[DCBob]

11. Ok. I think I got it now. Thanks.

[budkin]

15. Fuck yeah!

Senator Al Franken baby!

[LynneSin]

16. This is why we should have a uniform runoff policy for our elections

I mean Saxby Chambliss had a much clearer lead over Jim Martin in the main election but because Saxby failed to get 50% of the votes a runoff occured thanks to Georgia election policies.

Clearly that 3rd party candidate that ran in Minnesota held a major impact over the senate race in Minnesota. And although I believe that many of these 3rd party candidates may have not voted or skipped voting if they felt that neither Coleman or Franklin was acceptable, I truly believe there would have been enough votes that would have given a clear victor in this race.

I'm not saying that the 3rd party candidate shouldn't have run, I just think that if none of the candidates get 50% of the votes then a run-off election should occur with the top 2 vote getters.

[Occam Bandage]

17. I'm not convinced that a runoff would help Franken in the slightest.

Franken is not at all popular among Minnesota Democrats; he ran virtually unopposed in the caucuses, and only pulled 61% of the delegates at the convention, with the rest deciding to support Kucinichesque left-wing professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer (myself included) in an ad-hoc protest movement. This is not due to JNP's strength; the dude never once set foot outside Minneapolis/St. Paul, never engaged in fundraising, and never broke 5% in the polls. In the primary in September (which is purely a formality, and which really only serves a purpose for state house candidates), Franken only pulled 63% of the vote, with the rest going to a pack of unfunded vanity candidates. For comparison, Coleman pulled over 90% in his primary.

When I was assigned to the Franken campaign in the late stages of the game, we decided that our best hope was to push Obama turnout and make sure those extra Obama voters go with Franken. With the lowered turnout of a runoff, I can't see Franken winning.

[LynneSin]

18. I have no clue if a runoff would benefit Franken but it would improve our election process

This is a state that had about 2.5million people cast a ballot and it's being decided by a 50 vote margin based on a recount that if recounted again could provide even a different result.

As I stated in my first post - I have no clue how that 3rd party candidate affected the race in Minnesota but I do think that if you removed him and had a run-off, we would see a clear victory emerge even though it might not be a victory that DUers would cheer about.

I also thing a run-off policy is a way to help build 3rd party candidates. There's always a big stink about "don't vote 3rd party it wastes your vote" but if we had run-off elections then a 3rd party vote would no longer be a waste since if the 3rd party candidate kept anyone from getting 50% then the runoff for the top 2 would happen.

[Tribetime]

19. Thanks for posting potential great news

maybe Bill's head will explode