funny you should mention it. via TPM -- Apropos of my post below, I'm getting word that Coleman may be in the process of fielding the lawyers for a replay of President Bush's 2000 recount smackdown. And this from the Associated Press gives a clue to why he is getting worried ... --Josh Marshall
As election judge, one of the most common questions that I had asked was "how do I just vote for President". It was mostly from young African-Americans that had never voted before. A significant number of ballots for Obama but not for Franken wouldn't surprise me at all.
The latest regarding Uncle Ted in Alaska: It's looking increasingly likely that the race is a toss-up even though Stevens leads in the actual counted ballots. He's ahead by 3,257 but there are ~81,000 ballots yet to be tabulated and these uncounted absentee and early ballots may favor Begich. Basically, only 73% (221,713) of ballots have been counted despite "99%" of precincts reporting. Begich could end up winning by a decent margin, though smaller than expected. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/110908/loc_354024709.shtml Minnesota is the talk of the country because of the personalities and flaming rhetoric. I get the impression the general public isn't aware of the doubt in Alaska when it's the one that is more likely to get flipped.
In Minnesota, the difference is now down to 204 votes. http://www.startribune.com/politics...yqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUs
The counties have reported their final tallies and Coleman is 206 votes ahead of Franken. The election won't be certified until next week and there still is a possibilty that tally might change by then.
Ted Stevens is a goner. The uncounted vote total is now 90,000, so only 71% of the votes have been tallied. He will end up losing by a clear margin.
~50,000 of the outstanding votes will be counted tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a clear indication of how things will end up. http://www.adn.com/election/story/585074.html
Why is it taking so long for them? (A) The three people in Alaska who can count to 1,000 were on vacation. (B) The delivery of ballots from remote areas was slowed while waiting for endangered wildlife to cross gravel roads en masse. (C) They were trying a mavericky new system where you only count every other ballot.
They've counted about 28,000 of the absentee ballots. Stevens' lead is down to 971 votes. By the end of the day, they will have counted all 60,000 absentee votes. http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/586989.html Bye bye Uncle Ted.
Let's go Begich. Then maybe we can not hear about Palin so much until she starts running for president.
Latest update: Begich is ahead 132,196 to 131,382, a margin of 814 votes. That cleans up the ~60,000 ballots that were expected to be counted today. There are 35,000 more to be counted in the next week or two. Again: Bye bye Uncle Ted.
I feel the same way you do glynch, I don't want Palin anywhere near the white house.I really hope Teddy Kroger loses this race, so the Dems can pick up another seat. Maybe they should give the G.O.P a taste of their own medicine and steal some votes.
I hope blagojevich at least offers the seat to duckworth. Would be another nice "F you" to the slander tactics of the GOP.
It's over in Alaska. Stevens' pollster admits he will lose because the remaining uncounted ballots will almost certainly favor Begich. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/13/stevens-pollster-race-is_n_143660.html
YES! How I hope it's true. Palin's one chance, IMO, to stick around as a political force was to get elected to the Senate in a special election to fill that seat. She could have spent the next few years attempting to build a reputation there. Without it, in my opinion, she's toast. God, she looked clueless again today during the conference of GOP governors. What an idiot!
I would have def taken Coleman and Begich over Franken and Stevens/Palin/whoever Palin stuck in if it came to choosing. So win or lose the Coleman deal (who is not a radical conservative--more of a where was the wind blowing conservative-- and does have a center-left constiency to answer to), can't complain in the big picture with Begich taking one of the two Alaska senate seats for at least 6 years.
