Richard Tafoya
Nov 23rd, 2008, 11:45 PM
TPM:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/coleman_has_very_good_day_in_m.php
GOP Sen. Norm Coleman had a good day in today's round of the Minnesota recount, wiping out about two thirds of the gains that Al Franken had made so far in this never-ending roller-coaster of an election.
According to the latest numbers collected by the Star Tribune (http://ww2.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/returns/2008/recount/msenco.html), Coleman is ahead by 180 votes with 68% of ballots recounted. Last night, Franken had closed the gap to 120 votes with 64% counted, so the recounting of just four percent of the ballots today was very good for Coleman.
There is of course a major caveat here, the same one we noted (http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/franken_makes_gains_in_first_d.php) when Franken made big gains on the first day of this process: Don't put too much stock in a single day or a particular batch of ballots, as the swings that happen here are likely to be random and unpredictable. That said, today obviously wasn't good for Franken, and he better hope the remaining ballots have some good news for him.
Another big unknown here is what the outcome will be of the many challenged ballots, which are not included in the current totals pending review by the state canvass board. There are now almost 2,000 of them, compared to less than 900 just yesterday afternoon. Depending on the nature of those challenges, there could be anything from a huge swing to Franken to a total wash or even a swing to Coleman. And we simply don't know.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/coleman_has_very_good_day_in_m.php
GOP Sen. Norm Coleman had a good day in today's round of the Minnesota recount, wiping out about two thirds of the gains that Al Franken had made so far in this never-ending roller-coaster of an election.
According to the latest numbers collected by the Star Tribune (http://ww2.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/returns/2008/recount/msenco.html), Coleman is ahead by 180 votes with 68% of ballots recounted. Last night, Franken had closed the gap to 120 votes with 64% counted, so the recounting of just four percent of the ballots today was very good for Coleman.
There is of course a major caveat here, the same one we noted (http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/franken_makes_gains_in_first_d.php) when Franken made big gains on the first day of this process: Don't put too much stock in a single day or a particular batch of ballots, as the swings that happen here are likely to be random and unpredictable. That said, today obviously wasn't good for Franken, and he better hope the remaining ballots have some good news for him.
Another big unknown here is what the outcome will be of the many challenged ballots, which are not included in the current totals pending review by the state canvass board. There are now almost 2,000 of them, compared to less than 900 just yesterday afternoon. Depending on the nature of those challenges, there could be anything from a huge swing to Franken to a total wash or even a swing to Coleman. And we simply don't know.