Franken Ahead 22 Votes Now, Campaign Says

Al Franken's campaign announced on Wednesday that, for the first time since the Minnesota recount began, the Democrat has actually pulled ahead of Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

Speaking on a conference call with reporters, Franken's chief counsel Marc Elias said the campaign's own internal count showed them up 22 votes, a jump from the 13 vote deficit that they faced on Tuesday.

"We have approximately 138,000 ballots left to count," said Elias. "94.3 percent of the state has now been counted... Obviously that number is going to change, but we are pleased thus far with how things are going."

If true (the official state and newspaper numbers show a margin more favorable to Coleman, owing to the many challenges each campaign has logged), the tally underscores just how incredibly close the Minnesota race has become. On Wednesday, the state will go over ballots from Wright County -- a largely Republican area that could thrust Norm Coleman back into the lead.

Indeed, observers of the recount process and even members of both campaigns are bracing themselves for the near certainty that the courts will become involved. Among those aspects of the recount that have been or seemed destined to be legally debated: rejected absentee ballots (of which the Franken campaign says there are some 1,000 that should be counted), missing ballots (171 of which emerged in Ramsey County on Tuesday), and the pool of ballots that the campaigns have contested.

The last group has been building up into the thousands, as both candidates have filed both legitimate and frivolous objections. On the Wednesday conference call, however, Elias said that the Franken campaign would withdraw roughly 600 of their challenges.

UPDATE: Talking Points Memo's Eric Kleefeld explains why the withdrawn 600 challenges could be significant... from a PR perspective.

Comments

[TomMinnesota]

I hope Franken wins, but, this headline appears to be a bit misleading. According to this Minneapolis Star/Tribune website I've been watching since the recount started on 11/19, Coleman is leading by 316 votes, with 98% of all votes recounted.(http://ww2.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/returns/2008/recount/msenco.html)

[shedances]

I hope he wins, too ... if not, it would be a major setback for this progressive-minded northern U.S. state.

[Doofus]

Presumably, Al is adding his challenges to the total, but ignoring Coleman's.

According to an NYT op-ed, since/if the result is a 'statistical tie', the victor must
be decided by a coin toss, supposedly according to MN law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/opinion/04seife.html

[OldHeathen]

I hope Al Frankin wins. I'm sick to death with these Neo Cons. Send Neo Cons a message, Send them Home!

[WSAY]

Coleman used to be a Democrat. The Democrats refused to support him and his hatred. He decided to become a Republican - they embraced him.

[ProudNeoCon]

We are home:)

[kaj pagan]

Suffering the 'empty nest syndrome' too, aren't you?

[mtflyer]

not unless you're in Hell

[georgeedward]

Al Franken: Minnesota's contribution to the comedic malaise in the U.S. Senate!

[MIKELIN8]

Why would any American dispute that every vote should be counted?

To my Republican­/conservat­ive friends:

Franken winning the Senate in Minnesota would be much less harmful to the country than the outright theft of the 2000 Florida election. That is a black eye on American history that all of you loud-mouthed Republicans should have to live down for the rest of your lives.

I don't think Al's brother is the Governor of Minnesota, and his campaign manager is not the Secretary of State, either.

[ll15]

Oh, here we go. Welcome back "stolen" election. Dang that Supreme Court. Get over it and move on with your lives, liberals!!!

[blindjester]

Just ignore 8 years of war, mismanagement, and criminality.

No harm done, right?

[LightningJoe]

Get it, Con: There IS no "moving on" from miscarriages of justice.

Especially when said miscarriages of justice steal the voting rights of citizens. It never WILL be over. It may be "fixed" by main force of outraged public opinion, but it will never go away, and never be a moot point.

[donjoe4]

Franken should put this puppy to bed...go home ..and call it a day...better luck next time...its starting to smell now you know?

[WSAY]

Crybaby. Only a loser on right wing would say, someone should quit now that they are leading. The Republicans have ruined this country in eight years, and it is time for Democrats to save it - yet again!

[bogues]

This recount is on behalf of both candidates. I don't smell anything other than democracy taking place.

[billw8017]

Vote fraud is a fact of democracy. The Republicans have more ways of subverting the vote since they manufacture the machines and use authority figures to intimidate voters. In 2008, Democrats finally won by the predominance of their numbers. Karl Rove came to prominence when he directed a race for a southern judgeship. When his man lost, he sued, kept the case before the public until the next election, and finally won in the next election. While the Supreme Court ruled so as to cut Gore out, it also said its decision should not be taken as establishing precedent.

Republicans should say nothing about voting and justice. Their hypocrisy discredits anything they could say.

[RightWingMarine]

it's a good thing the demos keep finding "lost" ballots that dispropotionally favor Franken and even exceed the number of ballots requested in a given precint.

[WSAY]

Can you actually support that, or are you just lying?

[Topsailsman]

I was told that Marines had honor. I was told that Marines would be straight with you, give you the facts and not twist facts or falsely accuse people. So either this poster is no Marine, or I got twisted facts.

[RightWingMarine]

Don't look at any of the links other posters have put on here, don't take the word of the Associated Press, CNN, the local star tribune, or the British Guardian. Be all means accuse me of making stuff up.

[Pearlman]

"Wednesday evening, a Star Tribune tally showed Coleman with a 316-vote lead, with 98 percent of the vote recounted. At the start of the recount, Coleman had a 215-vote lead."

Now, who was it in here last evening stating the Star Tribune had reported Franken ahead?

[Topsailsman]

I don't know if anyone reported that. But I can't stop laughing as you use the liberal MSM, especially that leftist rag the Star Tribune, as a reputable source. What does the NY Times say about it? How about the Washington Post? If the Star Tribune finds your favor now, surely all the MSM has now become dependable. Twisted logic, twisted loyalties, twisted quotes, twisted truth, be careful, you could hurt yourself in these contortions.

[Pearlman]

They had an election. Coleman won. Franken wanted a recount. Why would we think that there are better odds Franken won in spite of the election results.... being delusional like Gore?

[independent32955]

so i guess it's time to call coleman and demand that he concede.

[jimrs6]

Another report from the new Baghdad Bob, Mark Elias. Coleman's lead has increased in the recount. The Franken camp is hoping to turn around a bunch of disputed ballots. Too big a gap for him to recover.

[Mike1997]

Ilifted this from the Minn secy of states latest (8pm 12-3) totals. someone needs to explain why this doesn't show Franken up by quite a bit to me.

RECOUNT Number of Ballots for Coleman (as recounted) 1174964 41.24
RECOUNT Number of Ballots for Franken (as recounted) 1186134 41.63
RECOUNT Number of All Other Ballots (as recounted) 481922 16.91

RECOUNT COLEMAN and Other Ballots Challenged By FRANKEN 3085 0.11
RECOUNT FRANKEN and Other Ballots Challenged By COLEMAN 3241 0.11


Here is the Link:

http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/SenateRecount.asp

[ClevelandTom]

I'm with you. Based on the Sec of State web site, even if every single challenged ballot went to Coleman, Franken would still be ahead by around 4,000 votes. I am throughly confused.

[ProudNeoCon]

My guess:

It counts only "RECOUNT BALLOTS". If you assume that the ballot which was not recounted are split between Coleman and Franken then Franken shoudl be ahead. However, if the rest of the ballots are mostly pro-Coleman in original count then Colemen would be ahead.

Put it in math form

Coleman votes = Recount ballots pro-Coleman + ballots not yet recounted pro-Coleman

So the numbers you are quoting are only partial. From what I read the ballots yet to be re-counted are comming from Republican part of the state...

[Pepper14]

The only one that has Franken ahead is Franken. He is not winning this race and he should be a man and let it go if they declare Coleman the winner. If you are so stupid that you can't fill in an oval by the name of the person you want to vote for then your vote shouldn't be counted. At some point you have to hold the voter responsible and this business of trying to determine what they meant to do is stupid. I also would like to know why votes keep turning up that weren't counted on election day and they always seem to benefit Franken. All this talk from the media that the senate will decide this election is silly talk. I don't believe that there are enough dems that want to have anything to do with this even though Reid would like to it would be silly to make this the story and it would become the story. The dems wanted the media to make this a story about him being ahead and like good little robots they have.

[blindjester]

"If you are so stupid that you can't fill in an oval by the name of the person you want to vote for then your vote shouldn't be counted."

You have a strange notion of democracy.

[cjd411]

"If you are so stupid that you can't fill in an oval by the name of the person you want to vote for then your vote shouldn't be counted. "

Good idea... while we're at it let's bring literacy tests back to the voting booth

[entropyisfun]

can we atleast wait for all the votes be (re)counted before declaring a winner?

[uvymopkq]

Oh NO.....Al Franken has stole the election!!! Opps...Democrats don't do that, (or do they???)

[w8aminute]

So why are the morningnews shows announcing that Coleman is ahead by 300+?

[Fanofnobody]

Because he is.

[CRA1]

And your source is?? Believe no one until the final count is announced.

[tre]

Because Coleman is making sure that all of those votes that were found in the shredder, those found in the trash dumpster, those with hanging chads, those with dimpled chads, those with votes right next to Franken, are not being counted.

And that is just SOOOOO dishonest and unfair of him!

[Fanofnobody]

whatever.

[savroD]

Go AL GO!

And remember.... send the Limo to ME!

[plzchuteme]

For those who are keeping an eye on the official vote totals, you can't help but notice that the eventual winner will have received no more than 42-43% of the total vote; hardly a resounding endorsement. Whoever wins will be on a pretty short leash. This can only benefit the people of Minnesota because it forces thoughtful moderation by someone who is scared for their life rather than blind partisanship. All three candidates had it in them to be capable if they remember who they are working for; not themselves, not the party, and not special interests. I would suggest that anyone who is concerned and cares, to put their senator's (whoever it will be) office number on speed dial and add the address to their address book. Both Coleman and Franken should be shopping for asbestos socks because their feet WILL be held to the fire.

[plzchuteme]

P.S. Though I am rooting for Franken, I must face the reality that Coleman may win. If that should happen, my spirits will be buoyed by two things. One is that I will be able to ride Coleman's a$$ for six years, and the other is that, for all of his faults, Norm Coleman is NOT Saxby Chambliss!

[AllenFromAtlanta]

"Norm Coleman is NOT Saxby Chambliss!"

plzchuteme, wanna trade. Send either one down here and you can have Chambliss.­......PLEA­SE...

[stevensjohn26]

That's all Clinton ever got, 43 and 46% of the vote, but he definitely was not on a short leash!!