Al Franken Election: Coleman's Lead Shrinks To 174 Votes

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:

The Great Minnesota Recount kicked off Wednesday with masses of volunteers for Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken moving into a fresh phase of the struggle: eyeballing the first of 2.9 million ballots, ready to pounce on anything that looked questionable.

By day's end, with about 18 percent of the vote recounted, Coleman continued to lead Franken -- but by only 174 votes, notably narrower than the unofficial gap of 215 votes at which the recount had begun. Franken's gain owed much to a swing of 23 votes in the Democratic stronghold of St. Louis County -- the result of faintly marked ballots and older optical scanners that failed to read the marks.

The figures represent a Star Tribune compilation of recount data reported to the secretary of state and gathered by the Star Tribune.

Read the whole story.

Read more about Al Franken here and more about the recount here.

Comments

[levibatgirl]

Its at 169 as of 45 minutes ago or so.

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

[phredralf]

We should have a nationwide, electronic, voting system, with hard copy backup, that would instantly tally and post the election results to a single vote. India has been all electronic for years with a population of over 1 Billion. I think we have the resources to pull the same off here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3493474.stm

[TheHandyman]

Amusing how people all want technology as if it is the answer for everything which is why we have this mess. Canada uses pencil and paper, much cheaper than a machine that doesn't work and costs so much. Canadians use pencil and paper and within hours they know the outcome. Presently the number of polling places are determined by the number of machines. Eliminate the machines, use paper, count them at the polling place, report the numbers to a central place to tally all the places and voila, done! No waiting in line for hours to use a machine that cannot be trusted. Faster, cheaper, and more accurate.

[TheNoBullExpress]

We have to spend money here in America. Getting government contracts to produce sub par goods or services has been a way of life. The war was in part a diversion to the Greatest Train Robbery of all time...the US Treasury. The bandits will flee, once again..as they always do....to TEXAS !

[MNCurler]

Let's see- if a Democrat wins an election this way then it's fair. If a Republican would win this way then they stole the election from the Democrat. However, unlike the Democrats, if Franken wins I won't whine and pout the whole term and keep screaming the election was stolen. That's called maturity and grace.

[Fuji]

Heh. Right on.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Says the 5th grader.

[kitebro]

"If a Republican would win this way then they stole the election from the Democrat." ? What are talking about? It is the GOP that doesn't like to count votes. Please come back to reality.

[LWkcma]

hopefully the Supremes won't have to decide

[jimimosey]

Stop! In the name of love...

[levibatgirl]

And that's what I call being uninformed and not very bright.

[trollsbwild]

This is a state mandated recount. Sorry, but no one knows what you are ranting about.

[BillMelater]

Go, Al, go.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com

[redlinemetro]

Careful Coleman the Joker is on your back.

[spinns17]

i say do the election all over again.

[Robert11010]

With the eyes of the world on the recount, no doubt Franken will come out the winner. If I was Michelle Backman's adversary, I'd demand a recount too (why don't they do both at the same time while they're at it?) I believe that in Alaska, the same shenanigans prevailed. The exit polls were widely different from the actual vote count - until that race became important regarding a 60-seat filibuster proof majority. As soon as everyone's eyes turned to Alaska - low and behold - Ted Stevens started losing. Alaska only has about 100,000 voters - they should do a recount of that entire state. They would probably find that some of those Republicans who squeaked in didn't really get the most votes.

[newunderground]

Who could forget the "Strange Bedfellows" bit that Al did w/Ariana, back when she thought she was a conservative? Did Al turn her around?

[DrSithMirth]

That's actually when I became a fan of both of them; I thought they were comedy together. I knew who Franken was before that, but from that show he went on to his radio show. I loved his stuff there when he was being serious. I really think Franken will do a great job as Senator (if he wins, fingers crossed).

This is very exciting if he wins! Having lived in Minnesota for 11 years, I really think he'll make that state proud.

[YesWeDid]

We're rooting for you, Al!

[LiberalBuzz]

WOW, the paid republican trolls are out in force on this one, and even the nut ters are out in force coming up with the usual lies and smears even though the Coleman people have agreed this is an OPEN and HONEST recount.

BUT that doesn't stop the trolls from hopping on the crazy train about things that don't exist. Except in their tinfoil laden brains.

go AL!

[VikingQuest]

Coleman doesn't need to agree, it was mandated goofball.

Screw Al & Norm!

[MNCurler]

Exactly- and even though the 2000 Presedential election was certifed as correct and fgair it didn't stop all of the libs from their 4 year whine fest over the loss of Al Gore. You folks set the standard for whining.

[levibatgirl]

It's a shame you get your talking points from rush and hannity.

But you aren't interested in accuracy.

[bluecash]

I guess your memory suffers as much as your crybaby attitude. As I remember, good 'ole boy James Baker and his team of Papa Bush's henchmen had the recount stopped by appeal-after-appeal. All the way to the US supreme court where the justices further sullied the reputation of the supposedly fairest court in the land by giving-in to the right wing's demands.

Nice try though.

[rustyaustin]

Certified as correct an fair by whom? Just typing something on the internet doesn't make it true. As I recall the ultimate arbiter of the election, the Supreme Court, was so ashamed of their decision to stop the counting of votes they refused to sign the order, and also stipulated that it only apply to the 2000 election. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. But given how things turned out, with the virtual extinction of the republican party thanks to Mr. Bush Jr., and no hope for them at all for at least a generation, I guess they can now come out of the closet and actually sign the detestable thing, since it actually did accomplish something for the greater good of humanity, at least in the long run. Of course for the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have been needlessly killed over the last 8 years that's cold comfort...

[tonewheel]

Nice photo....Al "the Joker" Franken.

[VikingQuest]

Think about this, Minnesotans like myself have been played so bad that we have an election that has come down to 2 people we don't like that didn't want to live here until they saw an opportunity to win a Senate seat.

When Franken v Coleman spent a boatload of money (I believe the most in any Senat race) both of their numbers went down and some guy that spent nothing got 15% of the vote.

[spinns17]

gee wonder why the republicans had there convention there .want to buy a few votes .lol

[LiberalBuzz]

Gee for two people Minnesotans "didn't like" MILLIONS sure voted for them. IF they really didn't like them the third party candidate would have won easily.

[souris]

.................you go, Stuart Smalley, 'cause darn it all, you're just smart enough! Ha!!! :)

[FormerLutheranChick]

Little Norman County in northwestern Minnesota finished its recount shortly before 1 PM yesterday. Out of 3000 votes that were cast, Franken bested Coleman by 250 votes. The recount was exactly the same. The county, overwhelmingly rural, high proportion of seniors, small Hispanic and Native American populations with extremely little other ethnic diversity, went for Obama in the presidential race.

This gives me faith in the intelligence of my fellow Minnesotans.

[trollsbwild]

The tr0//s are already lining up their excuses via the talking points handed out by Rush and Sean Hannity.

WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

[CaptainVideo]

We won, they lost!

They are a bunch of LOSERS!!!!!

And when they show up here we should call them that.

[kingofscotts]

Why would you want to call the Franken supporters "losers". Just because they lost the race?

Actually that makes sense. My bad.

Take a look at the ballot that Franken is contesting.

http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/whistleblower/2008/11/19/one-challenge-headed-to-the-state-so-far-in-plymouth/

If he isn't the biggest joke to run for the Senate in the history of our country than I don't know who is.

Al Franken: The crying and the crying criers who cry. What a baby.

You lost Stuart, move on.