Franken and Coleman Challenge Ever More Ballots

Photos from source, BradBlog

This wasn't a very active weekend, at least for the blog. With the election over, the post-mortem winding down, and no pervasive story beyond the financial crisis, I just haven't found much of interest to relay. It's OK, though, I sorta needed the break! Hopefully, you stuck with me.

But it's a new week, albeit a short one for most of us. And for me, it promises a huge cheat day on my diet, the first in nearly two months. To say the least, I'm excited. So, I'll try to bring some of that excitement here to the blog with some active posting. As I said, I'll try.

First up, the ongoing recount in Minnesota for U.S. Senate. Al Franken, writer, comedian and favorite of this blog, is still 100 or so votes behind incumbent Senator Norm Coleman. I'm starting to feel that Coleman is going to hold on to his seat, if only barely. And even if Franken pulls out a squeaker, he's going to have the full wrath of right-wing world come down on him, accusing him of fraud or worse. Not a great way to start your Senate career. And if Coleman wins, he's going to have to live with the fact that this comedian--denigrated thoroughly by the right--almost beat him. That's not so great either. Still, I'm hoping Franken pulls an upset.

And in Georgia, where the Senate race is also undecided? There are no ballots to check there. Just electronic votes with no paper trail whatsoever. Wonderful.

[Excerpt]

MN U.S. Senate Hand Count: Challenged Ballots by Both Franken and Coleman Balloon on Day 3

As of the end of Day 3 of hand counting paper ballots in the MN U.S. Senate race between Democratic challenger Al Franken and incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, the total number of challenged ballots by both camps has now ballooned to more than 1500, even as the official gap of ballots that have now been tallied (versus the challenged ballots that will be adjudicated later by the state Canvassing Board) shrank slightly to 115. Franken's camp, however, now puts that number at less 100, based on their calculations of how election officials initially judged a number of those challenged ballots. . .

Read more at: BradBlog

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm aware that this information may be outdated by the time you read this. I'm writing this in the wee hours of Monday morning Eastern time. I'll try to update the story later in the day.