Minnesota Senate: The Election That Won’t End

By Karen Tumulty | December 19, 2008 | +

In Minnesota, a round of ballot rulings has (at least temporarily) put challenger Al Franken ahead of incumbent Norm Coleman.

UPDATE: Commenter wvng passes along a link where we can follow this in real time.

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http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

Lets just chalk it up as a reminder that every vote counts! Even your’s!
Medicine against apathy.
Andy from MA

KT — The headline reads like the title of a 1950s sci fi thriller filmed in 3D with sensoround sound.
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While this has been moving at a glacial pace (we still have glaciers, don’t we) I’ve been impressed with how methodical and professional the canvassnig board and the courts seem to be.
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Coleman has some prosecutor nipping at his heels and Franken has been playing straight man for the most part.
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If Franken wins and is seated, I can’t wait for Bill O’Reilly to refer to Al as Senator Franken.
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I think this could only be accomplished in an almost anti-climactic way in Minnesota and no where else, except maybe Maine.
Paul-no not that one

The board has been very impressive.
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And while I guess I understand the tone of the headline and some people’s ants-in-the-pantsitis the system has worked exactly the way it is supposed to.
Andy from MA

PNNTO — Kudos to you too for sharing what’s happening on the ground with the rest of us. Is Coleman getting a lot of negative press locally about this investigation? Or is it a non-story?
Paul-no not that one

The Colemans (Senator and spouse)lawyering up made A1 in the rapidily failing Star Tribune after generally being played in the B section.
One thing that has been striking to me is how NOT worked up most people are. I work in an office that is probably 75% republican and they have been almost silent. I assume that two bad election cycles added to a guy (Coleman) that really hasn’t earned a ton of affection has beaten them down.
wvng

PNNTO, appears to me that you are mighty close to announcing Senator Franken. Up by 115 (oops, 122) now, close to impossible for Coleman to make it up.
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Surely you have ants-in-your-pants now, in the “rush” to the finish line. Speaking of slow rushes to finish lines, my wife wrote a great song about an annual turtle race in her Indiana hometown.
Paul-no not that one

I think Al’s call and response with his supporters sums it up best-
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“What do we want?” Franken shouts.
“PATIENCE!” the volunteers respond.
“When do we want it?” Franken asks.
“NOW!” the crowd demands
kristiia

I can’t wait to see O’Reilly’s head explode when Senator Frankin is sworn in. heh.
http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

It’s interesting that aside from the lizard people guy is how unambiguous the challenged ballots are.
http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

And hey wouldn’t that be a story? Finding the lizard people guy?
Paul-no not that one

Don’t look at me jay. When the DFL nominates someone even I can’t fill the circle in for I vote the Legalize It Party.
wvng

TPM on The Worst Ballot Challenge Of All.
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jay, the lizard people guy is in hibernation.
wvng

KT, R U looking forward to having a Senator Al Franken to deal with? I would think that smart and funny would beat venal and stoopid every time.
Andy from MA

wvng: don’t you know that KT won’t comment on other members of the media (just joking KT).
Karen Tumulty

KT here–

wvng and andy: Franken is hilarious, and I’m a sucker for entertainment value. I was in Minneapolis in 2007 for a family wedding, and Franken walked into the restaurant where we were eating breakfast on an absolutely glorious July day. (A place called “Hell’s Kitchen,” which I highly recommend.) He asked Swampkid #2 how he was liking the city, and added: “If you come back in January, you might want to bring a sweater.”
Paul-no not that one

Franken has played this recount period brilliantly.
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While Coleman has made various nutty statements (Starting the morning after the election) Al has kept a low profile and asking his supporters to do the same.
dunedweller

Andy, Kristiia: O’Reilly will call him Senator Smalley – that’s how mature he is.
plukasiak

does anyone know how the board is interpreting the “identifying marks” rule?
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I’m interpreting it as clear intent by the voter to mark the ballot in order to identify it. Simply because someone does something that is unique (like writing in the same name for all the judges) does not qualify as “identifying marks” because the voter could have been sending a message about the kind of person he wants to be a judge, rather than specifically identifying the ballot as his/her own.
Paul-no not that one

pluk-you can watch how they are making their determinations here through a live stream here.
http://www.startribune.com/
It’s oddly compellling.
wvng

PNNTO, would you be so kind as to call over to the paper and ask them to use their real, Fargoesque, accents?
Paul-no not that one

I would wvng but I’m pretty sure their call center is somewhere in India.
wvng

You betcha.
wvng

PNNTO, good bunch in that room. They just joked about needing tee-shirts to commemorate this moment.
Paul-no not that one

wvng-they do seem to have the correct temperments.
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The day before yesterday they explained because they may be skipping meals that they needed to have cookies in the middle of the afternoon or they would get cranky.
wvng

If Prairie Home Companion doesn’t do a skit on this they will really miss a bet.