December 19th, 2008 // comments (0)

Franken Takes Lead In Recount

The intense scrutiny of “voter intent” resumed this morning by a five-member board charged with directing Minnesota’s recount in the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democratic rival Al Franken, and the first rush of ballot rulings has unofficially put the challenger in the lead.

They were bound to keep recounting and recounting until the desired result was achieved. Republicans, it looks to me like you have lost yourself yet another seat in the Senate. 59-41.

I think, in short time, Al Franken will be more of a problem than benefit for the Democrats. Insiders suggest Senate Democrats wanted Franken to lose because of his extreme temper and a lack of ability to socialize on a normal level. To put it bluntly, Franken is a jackass and everyone knows it. Seriously, Minnesota, did you just elect Al Franken to the United States Senate? We need to talk…

Update: Franken is up by triple digits but it’s not quite over yet.

Specifically, I have Franken taking a lead of about 430 votes after all challenged ballots are processed this afternoon. This includes “blue folder” ballots flagged (mostly by the Coleman campaign) for special circumstances. The Canvassing Board ruled this morning that they will evaluate blue folder ballots based on the markings on the ballot only, and will not consider the special circumstances behind them, which are outside of its jurisdiction and instead the subject for a court challenge. As such, very few of these types of challenges are likely to be successful, at least in the immediate term. Coleman has significantly more blue folder challenges than Franken, and so this is likely to add to Franken’s total.

I then have Franken losing a net of about 385 ballots once withdrawn challenges are processed, as Franken has more withdrawn challenges that Coleman, most of which are Coleman ballots. This would leave him with a small surplus.

This may come down to just a handful of votes but it looks good for Franken.

Related:

• January 26, 2009 -- Colman/Franken Battle Heats Up
• January 6, 2009 -- Coleman Challenges MN Recount
• January 5, 2009 -- Franken Wins Senate Seat
• December 18, 2008 -- Franken Closing In On Coleman
• December 17, 2008 -- Live: The Coleman/Franken Recount
• December 11, 2008 -- Franken In Hail-Mary Web Vid
• December 5, 2008 -- Minnesota Recount Is Over, Kinda
• December 3, 2008 -- Baghdad Bob: Franken Claims Lead
• November 20, 2008 -- More Franken Coleman Ballots
• November 20, 2008 -- Al Franken Is Contesting This?