Recount is complete; Franken up by 226

[deminks]

http://www.startribune.com/politics/37047159.html

Norm Coleman's term as a U.S. Senator ended at noon Washington time on Saturday, and by evening his hopes of winning a second term had been dealt an expected but serious setback as state officials counted previously rejected absentee ballots in St. Paul.

Democrat Al Franken held an unofficial lead of 226 votes over Coleman as this edition of the Star Tribune went to press, according to a newspaper tally of officials' count of the absentee ballots. Franken had led unofficially by 49 votes going into the day and gained a net 177 votes from the new ballots.

With the recount complete, focus immediately shifted to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which continued to consider a request from the Coleman campaign to alter the process and add more absentee ballots to be reconsidered. But by early evening there there was no word from the state's highest court as to when it would rule or hear arguments.

Officials from the Minnesota Secretary of State's office, flanked by attorneys for Coleman and Franken, spent much of the day sorting through -- but not yet counting -- the 933 previously-rejected absentee ballots that local election officials had acknowledged were mistakenly not counted. When the counting finally began in the late afternoon, and then moved quickly, Franken gained a large majority of the votes that the campaign had for weeks argued should be counted.

(end snip)

If Al Franken is certified by the canvasing board of MN when they meet on Monday and possibly Tuesday, then he should be seated. And Harry Reid can kiss my hiney.

[bigtree]

1. kick

:kick:

[orleans]

2. good for us and al! and harry fucking reid can kiss my ass regardless! n/t

[Hawkeye-X]

3. It wasn't Norm's seat to begin with anyway - The Wellstone Memorial Seat

belongs the rightful candidate - Al Franken!

[Mr. Sparkle]

4. Thats awesome. Congratulations Senator Franken!

:thumbsup:

[InvisibleTouch]

5. Happy to hear it! n/t

[Gregorian]

6. This honestly feels like the end of the 2000 election.

It's as though it never stopped. Just a long horrible intermission of destruction.

I suppose if there is an appeal granted then both sides will present arguments, and then who knows what. Nothing, probably.

Woo hoo... phew.

[calimary]

7. YESSSSSSSS! Senator Al Franken!

I sure do like the sound of that! There really will be a "Al Franken Decade" - of sorts, at least!

:toast:

Still keeping my fingers crossed. The bad guys don't lose gracefully.

Since they're the ones who first coined the phrase "Sore Loserman," well, I guess they'd know all about that kind of thing, wouldn't they?

[Iggo]

28. I dunno, man.

I sent Mr Franken my five bucks back in 1979 and I still haven't received my "Genuine Lincoln Medallion."

Ah, well. It probably got lost in the mail.

Congrats Sen. Franken!

:toast:

[calimary]

30. LOL!

I'm surprised the coleman people didn't make more use of that SNL skit with Franken and Davis where they appeared together onstage half-naked, dressed as some sort of ceremonial sumo wrestlers, and got outed as "gay lovers".

Back when SNL was consistently funny - at least as far as some of us old-timers are concerned.

[madokie]

8. Yes harry can kiss my hiney too

either way it turns out. I want new leadership at both the house and senate. Nothing short of that is acceptable

[Peggy Day]

42. I called my californian reps to ask for just that

The republicans stick together no matter what, and although I'm not asking for that, harry reid just seems to want to do anti democratic things. Time for someone new.

[mzmolly]

9. I'm still digesting this

and looking forward to the official certification on Monday. :)

It's odd, but it seems that the web of damage done in the Bush era is being slowly unraveled.

Franken is a controversial figure in a sense, as is Obama but the people are pushing back against tyranny WITH FORCE, and it's such a lovely time to witness isn't it?

[stop the bleeding]

11. Yes it is

[bleever]

13. It is a lovely thing.

:toast:

[mzmolly]

15. It

most certainly is. :hi:

[AlbertCat]

38. Well, after 2 stolen elections

...and the silence from the established left on those 2 stolen elections, it became clear who had to do something about it all....US. (Imagine if the MSM had done its job!)

I'm sure, however, if Gore had imagined what a wanker Bush was and the power Uncle Dick would wield, he might have fought a lot harder in 2000. Not even I thought it would be this bad though. And is Congress in a bubble or what? No one in Club Congress has a clue! Well, no one used to have a clue. Term limits please!!!!!!

[stevedeshazer]

10. C-Span 2 just got way more interesting. Senator Al Freaking Franken. Wow.

:woohoo:

[EFerrari]

12. Congratulations, Al!

lol

:woohoo:

[MineralMan]

14. I will leave my Wellstone and Franken stickers on my Volvo

as long as Franken is Senator. They are on the back window of a 740 wagon. The Wellstone sticker has been on as long as I have owned the car. I added the Franken sticker as soon as he declared his candidacy.

[Initech]

16. Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog gone it, people like me.

:woohoo: :toast: :toast: :woohoo:

[Submariner]

17. Will Bill O'Reilly invite Senator Al Franken on the Factor?

Even I would tune in Fox for that interview.

[mucifer]

18. um Al's not that stupid. He knows that billo edits his interviews.

[donco]

21. Hhmm,…Al could answer on live TV and

insist that it be a live interview.:evilgrin:

[calimary]

31. Now THAT would be worth watching. I might even tune in for that one myself.

Doubt billo is man enough to do it, though. Especially with Olbermann pushing on the other end, and hopefully invoking Andrea Makris a lot on that same night.

[marew]

19. I am thrilled!

[NutmegYankee]

20. I love it - Only need one moderate republican to bust a fillibuster!

[shayod]

22. Whoopee!!

One more nail in the Repblican's coffin!! The days of these lying liars getting away with telling their lies are coming to an end at last :-) Go get 'em Al!!

[sce56]

23. I put my thoughts on it here

[undercutter2006]

24. sweet

franken as a senator is absolutely awesome

[DFW]

25. What does Colemen do in the meantime?

Surely he can't be sworn in as duly elected, but can he still hang around the Senate
due to pure inertia, until the MN Supreme Court decides? And if he loses there, and appeals
wherever, how long can Coleman try to be a Senator without having won the election (any
more than Franken can)?.

[mascarax]

34. File lawsuits

Unfortunately.

[DFW]

37. Oh yes--and he will be doing that for a while, I suspect.

But in the meantime--will he be on the Senate floor when it is far from clear that
he is even legitimately there?

[SusanaMontana41]

26. Woo hoo!

Time for Coleman to step out of Wellstone's shoes — which were impossibly big for him to fill anyway — and back into his shadow. Where all Rethugs belong.

Welcome, Al! We miss you, Paul!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

27. Well, besides being smart and funny....

Al has proven he's also a fighter. I hope his example gets through to the vast majority of spineless Dems. This will certainly be a Senator to watch....congratulations to him and the great state of Minnesota. You betcha!

[BobTheSubgenius]

29. Not unexpectedly....

....a rerun.

edited for redundancy

[stlsaxman]

32. "Complete"? Is that "complete" as in Coleman has no appeals left? No Supreme Court rulings?

Jesus God I sure hope so....

Senator Al Franklin- sweet!

[dflprincess]

43. Complete as in the canvassing board has completed counting the ballots

former Senator Normie is taking it to the state Supreme Court.

[stlsaxman]

44. Figures, don't it?

Damn it, Norm... please give it up!

Thanks for the reply, dflprincess.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

33. Shouldn't Al be nominated for an Oscar???

As Amtrak Baggage Handler #1 in "Trading Places"????


:rofl:

What a great thespian!

[mucifer]

35. He's gonna do better than that other Harvard thespian who played Gopher on

"The love boat". He became a republican congressman. I forgot his name.

[ooglymoogly]

36. Thank you Al Frankin for standing your ground and fighting

election fraud down to the wire. Usually after the pugs declare victory as they are want to do, our folks just bend over, get screwed and flee even before all the votes are counted even if they have "thousands of Lawyers in place".

[SoCalDem]

39. Coleman may need to use his "phone a friend" option, soon

Goodbye, Mr. Chiclets

[L. Coyote]

40. Had to log in to give this good news a big REC!!!

[Tyler Generation]

41. He's good enough, he's smart enough

And doggone it, people like him!