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| Franken pushes his lead over Coleman past 250 |
| 2008-12-19 |
| The intense scrutiny of "voter intent" resumed this morning by the 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 90 minutes of ballot rulings turned the challenger's slight deficit into a growing triple-digit lead. Also this morning, the State Canvassing Board sidestepped the Coleman team's proposal to prevent as many as 150 ballots from being counted twice. Talking about instances when a ballot couldn't be run through a voting machine, requiring a duplicate to be made, the Coleman camp said that such ballots should be counted only if an original could be matched with its copy. However, board members today ruled that the duplicates should not be addressed by the board but in "another forum," said Board Chairman Mark Ritchie. But it will consider the ballots if there are questions about the intent of the voters who cast them, the board said. Later in the morning, Coleman officials requested that the state Supreme Court prevent the Canvassing Board from including these votes in its recount totals. In response to the Coleman request, Franken spokesman Andy Barr said: "This is just the latest desperate act by a campaign panicked because it has suddenly realized that it is going to lose the election." On Thursday, the board reviewed Coleman's challenges of hundreds of Election Day ballots, and the day's work saw the unofficial margin between the candidates dwindle to within a handful of votes. Then, as the board took up and rejected more Coleman challenges today, Franken pulled ahead in the opening minutes and steadily built his advantage beyond 250 by midday. |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #3 Minnesotans ere always straight, semi-lib , doctrinaire Donks (think Fritz Mondale) - now they need to be regaled with their new national image of wild-hair bigoted f*ck nuts, AKA Al Franken. Good job, and I hope your Vikings die on the field, all due respects to Bud Grant (one of my football deities) who would never have let a p*ssy like Franken carpetbag in and even be nominated. The friggen state is gone to hell. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-12-19 23:01 |
| #2 In related news 127 Franken votes turned up at a garage sale in Mankato |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2008-12-19 22:55 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-12-19 14:35 |