Spector Makes 59..Franken makes 60

The news is in. Yes! Arlen Spector a life long Republican from Pennsylvania decided recently to switch party's making the race..assuming Franken is seating (which is all but inevitable) up to 60 votes. This is so important because it would provide a veto proof majority in Congress that wuold allow the President to sign crucial legislation loike Health care, energy, education and hopefully Labor reform

Spector was seen as a vulnerable candidate in 2010, where he was loosing in his Republican primary. This is a symptom of a larger issue of Republicans driving moderates out of the party. In his statement He cited that the party was taking ideology over political relevance. "They don't make any bones about their willingness to lose the general election if they can purify the party. I don't understand it but that's what they say."

60 votes... 60 that's huge. It has always been the magic number. With Franken getting seated in the future, real reform will happen in this Congress. The last few months have been filled with Republicans using their Senate minority to block legislation and to make the Democrats look bad, but with this vote, that could change. Granted Spector isn't an automatic vote, butmif he wants to do well in the Democratic primary in 13 Months, he will have to take Democratic Party Platform possitions.


What Does this mean For Franken?

This means the stakes just hot higher. A 60th vote in the senate would make the minority party less relevent. This makes the Coleman lawsuit even more applicable and John Cornyn's push for the Supreme Court appeal even louder.

But.. Pawlenty said that Spector's decision didnt affect the contest in Minnesota, or when he would sign a certificate. This could be good or bad news for Democrats because Pawlenty remains vague on the issue.
"We're going to follow the law with respect to the Franken/Coleman litigation and when and how a certificate gets issued," Pawlenty said. "So again, the situation with Pennsylvania has no connection or impact on what's going to happen in Minnesota."



This could be a historic moment. We will just have to wait and see.

Coleman -sore loser - Minnesotan's want him gone

It is sure nice living in this little old state tucked away and near Canada getting noticed on a national scale. But frankly, I don't like that we are noticed for our crazy politics.

Coleman recently told the Pioneer Press that "We Will Never Know who won." claiming that margin is so close that it our elections were not designed.

What Coleman forgot, is that we have a system for this. It is called a recount panel and a challenging trial. Norm Coleman has exhausted his chances of winning outside of appeals. Not only did the the tri-partisan trail judges soundly reject his claims...and pretty much already answer the questions presented to the supreme court, but they made it clear only legal votes were aloud to be introduced.

Minnesotan have now seen that Coleman's time has past to concede. In a recent poll Minnesotas now believe he should concede by about 2:1

Do you think Norm Coleman should appeal the decision and continue to fight in court or should Coleman concede the race?

Appeal: 37%
Concede: 63%

Coleman loses another... argument gets weaker

Coleman's chances of winning the election are surely next to nothing. After the three judge panel decided to open as many as 1500 ballots to see if the proper registration was in the wrong envelope. Turns out out of all 1500 hundred ballots..only nearly 90 were actually admissible. Its not sure how many votes Coleman or Franken will net out of this, but one thing that is definitely true is that: 90 < 225. That shows how even at the end of the trial, Coleman is trying to make desperate attempts to get votes. The math just doesn't add up. If Coleman had 226 ballots to show the Judge Panel, he would have already. At this point it just looks like obstruction. If the campaign had any real argument, they wouldn't be caught so many times without comment....like with this latest Star Tribune report

"After the Secretary of State identified the 89 as containing valid registration forms, Franken lawyer Marc Elias said the number was well below the threshold that "might have opened up" the contest. The Coleman campaign did not have an immediate comment."

Coleman - absentee ballots are a long shot

Basically what it comes down to is that Coleman is looking to overturn the
slim lead by Franken by introducing ballots that come from skewed areas. He doesn't want to consider that there are ballots from Franken leading areas that were miscounted or wrongly rejected.


"If the 4,739 ballots Coleman wants the court to consider, 3,015 come from areas that voted for him over Franken in the Nov. 4 election. About a third of the ballots are from areas that gave Coleman more than 55 percent of their votes.

Carver County, which gave Coleman nearly 67 percent of the vote and a more lopsided victory than any other county, contributed 370 of those ballots.

Even in Hennepin County, whose already tabulated votes went nearly 60 percent to Franken, most of the absentee ballots Coleman wants reconsidered come from cities that voted for the Republican.

There are 1,385 Hennepin County ballots on Coleman's list. Just 38 percent of those, or 529 ballots, came from places that preferred Franken to Coleman. Democratic Minneapolis, the state's largest city, contributed 217 ballots to the list.

Most of the Hennepin County ballots on the list, 856 of them, come from Republican-leaning areas within the Democratic county. Plymouth, Maple Grove and Eden Prairie, all of which went for Coleman by greater than 55 percent among all counted ballots, contributed 335 ballots to Coleman's list." - Pioneer Press

I believe this is another clue that Franken will win this battle. Coleman's attempts at overturning the results are looking a bit desperate. His attempts also look more and more transparent. His motives are obvious and hopefully the judge panel sees through this attempt.

A little instant analysis: Franken will probably win

A little excerpt on why I Think Franken will win the Election... although it will take a few more weeks (maybe 3?)

radiofiendmusic: 1st there is no precedent for overturning recounts
radiofiendmusic: 2nd the court said that Coleman would have to subpoena all of the 87 counties absentee ballots
radiofiendmusic: 3rd Coleman's arguments have been largely inconsistent through out the entire process

Totally Expected News: Franken Got the Boot

"Al Franken’s trial balloon argument that he should soon be seated in the Senate – at least on a provisional basis -- isn’t going very far.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, reiterated that no election certificate will be handed out until the post-recount legal activity is complete. Both issued separate statements to that effect this afternoon.

“Minnesota law is very clear on when a certificate of election can be issued. Neither the governor nor I may sign a certificate of election in the U.S. Senate race until all election contests have reached a final determination,” said Ritchie. “Even if the governor issues a certificate of election prior to the conclusion of the contest phase, I will not sign it.”

Added Pawlenty: “I have a duty to follow state law and our statutes are clear on this issue. I am prohibited from issuing a certificate of election until the election contest in the courts has been resolved.”" -Politico


My Analysis:
So its clear, because Coleman has contested the election and even with his political future at stake Minnesota will only have 1 Senator for several weeks or months. Minnesotans won't be happy with 99 Senators. When Roland Burris gets sworn in later this week, we will be the only State without full representation. Klobuchar is a good Senator to handle the extra services. I see very little chance of Coleman actually winning the seat, so I say bring it on! The fallout on his political future is almost certain. Hes hammering the nails in his own coffin. If the court challenge is what it takes for Coleman to go away, then sure I'll be patient.

Coleman to Contest Election

After listening to the coverage on MPR

I see that Coleman has decided to contest the election. Although this is completely in his right (up to 7 days after canvas board certification) this doesn't seem to be a very good political move. His chances of overturning the decisions in his favor are pretty small and even if he gets both decisions in his favor, he wold have a large deficit to over come. having votes be in his favor 2 to 1. There is not much room to gain those votes.
It will be very hard for him to win this election, and even harder for him to serve again without skepticism. It will be good to see what the lawsuit decisions to do the race, but frankly from what I have heard Minnesotans are sick of this race and want a quick conclusion to it. If Coleman decides to draw out the seating of Al Franken, it will most certainly be to the decrement of his political future.

News coference at 3 pm: I think that he might cocede

The prospects of Norm winning at this point are next to nothing. I think that there might be a chance he concedes setting up a political future. If he fights this out and still ends up the loser it might shoot down his political future. If he somehow fights and pulls an upset, his new term would be clouded in controversy. So if Norm wants to be a candidate again (ex. Gov 2010), hi best chances of a future are if he concedes today.




Also I stole this piece from the Power Liberal, I thought it was very relevant.

Coleman Locked Out of his Office

"About 20 Coleman staffers had showed up for work at the senator's Washington office today, but they were ordered to close the office around midday by Howard Gantman, staff director for the Senate Rules and Administration committee.

Gantman said that Coleman's staff could NOT carry on Senate business. The senator's term had officially expired on Saturday.

But the senator released a statement indicating that the seemingly clear order might be subject to debate:

"Without question, this is a unique situation in the history of the Senate and specifics are still to be determined as to the future of the Senate office,'' Coleman said in the statement." MinnPost

Coleman has official been locked out of his office because of the Senate Rules. That's satisfying. I hope you all can enjoy this as much as me.

Franken Wins according to Canvas Board and SoS...But more to follow

"Al Franken was declared the winner over Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) in the Minnesota Senate race, but the Coleman campaign has announced it will be contesting the results in a post-election challenge." says Politico.


My analysis:
-Basically here is how it rolls out. Franken is 225 votes ahead after the recount. That is nearly a 1000 vote swing from election night projections. The recount looks to be transparent conducted by non-partisan county election officials a TRI-partisan canvas board that included 2 Republicans (appointed by Pawlenty) and 2 Independents and only 1 Democrat (SoS Mark Ritchie). There doesn't seem to be a lot of avenues for Coleman to sue. There is a current suit by the Coleman campaign over a contested 654 votes, which neither county auditors, the canvas board or the Franken campaign. In the MN Supreme Court decision earlier, it stated that all concerned parties must agree. The lack of a real decision by the court probably suggests that the suit won't get any real post-election differing results.

Even hypothetically, if Coleman gets the 654 votes included in the recount, and even further sues for the 133 votes that he claims were double counted, the problem is he would still have to net at least 225 votes. If both decisions are in his favor that only leaves 787 votes. Many didn't believe Franken would be up by such a large margin, but he is. This is statistically very difficult. Coleman would have to get 65% of the votes. That is very very dificult.
Chances are he wont get those decisions, and even if he does he would hve to get a very large margin of them. So at this point it looks like Franken is an almost certain winner.

Time to start cheering.

With the vote total..continuing to decrease, I wonder if Norm Coleman slips behind Franken, whether he will do the prudent thing and concede to Franken in a tax-payer money saving non- partisan gesture. Hmm 336 205 Votes....

Considering one tally from a small township in Pine County gave Franken 24 votes instead of his earned 124, The number could disappear quick.

Lets Hope

Go Al!!

Franken gaining numbers in Canvassing

So- it looks as though on election night, Frankenn was down by as much as 800 votes on Tuesday, but due to the fct of accounting errors or possibly other irregularities have narrowed it down to 338 336 226 votes which is updated every hour and shown on MPR. Kare 11 said that as many as 6000 additional ballots may be counted. It would be interesting to see what precincts those ballots are coming from, but certainly this is a close raise with a margin of .o1% difference at this point. Coleman should be ashamed to try and claim an early victory and further calling for Franken to concede. The outcome is uncertain. I am nervous, but who knows what will happen. .01% thats insane!! Franken, keep on truckin' man

The actual report from Crew's most corrupt

"Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)

Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) is a first-term senator, representing Minnesota. His ethics issues stem from lodging he accepted in violation of the Senate gifts rule.

Failure to Pay Rent

When in Washington, Sen. Coleman lives in a basement apartment in the Capitol Hill townhouse of Republican operative Jeff Larson. Mr. Larson runs FLS Connect, a telemarketing firm, which has been paid over $1.4 million since 2001 by Sen. Coleman’s leadership political action committee (PAC) and two campaign committees. Mr. Larson is also the treasurer of Sen. Coleman’s PAC and provides it with office space in St. Paul, MN. Adding to the relationship between the pair, Mr. Larson’s wife, Dorene Kainz, had been employed as a casework supervisor in Sen. Coleman’s St. Paul office, though after a news organization questioned Sen. Coleman about this, his staff announced that she would leave the office on July 10, 2008.

Over the past year, Sen. Coleman appears to have accepted lodging from Mr. Larson for at least three months without paying the agreed upon rent until caught by National Journal. Although Sen. Coleman paid $1,200 and Mr. Larson cashed a check for an additional $600 after National Journal questioned the pair about the payments, the fact that the payments were not made until flagged by the media heightens rather than diminishes the concerns over Sen. Coleman’s conduct. Sen. Coleman’s repeated missed rent and utility payments, and Mr. Larson’s failure to cash Sen. Coleman’s check suggest that Mr. Larson was not, in fact, necessarily expecting payment. Moreover, it is unclear whether the $600 rental rate represents the fair market value of the apartment considering other rental rates in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. After touring Sen. Coleman’s apartment, a Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter wrote that the space is not extravagant but well kept and renovated. A spokesman for Sen. Coleman said, according to their research, the senator is paying fair market value, but a Minnesota political group reported similar apartments on Capitol Hill rent for $1,100 to $1,450.

Because lodging clearly falls within the Senate’s definition of “gift,” Sen. Coleman appears to have violated the Senate gifts rule by accepting free lodging from Mr. Larson, someone who financially benefits from his relationship with the senator. Further complicating the issue is the question of whether the salary paid to Mr. Larson’s wife as an employee in Sen. Coleman’s office might constitute the true payment of the rent. Also troubling is the fact that Sen. Coleman paid his back rent, and Mr. Larson cashed Sen. Coleman’s checks, only once the media began questioning the living arrangement. Finally, by failing to pay his utility bills, which were valued at $532.88 – well over the $49.99 permissible gift limit -- Sen. Coleman accepted an improper gift from Mr. Larson.

On July 1, 2008, CREW filed a complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics requesting an investigation into this matter to determine whether Sen. Coleman has violated the Senate gifts rule."

Full Report Here

WCCO picks up Coleman Add Fraud

WCCO has finally picked up the Franken distortion ads done by Norm an his NRSC buddies.
View Here

This shows and proves how horrible these lies can get, Lukily for Norm, these adds seemed to have happened before he suspended his negative adds. HMMMM

Attack Adds on Franken have backfired

Good News
Star Tribune reports that the attack adds that have been so prevalent in the Senate race has backfired on both Coleman and Franken ..... but mostly on Coleman.

"The survey shows that 56 percent of poll respondents consider ads criticizing Franken to be “mostly unfair personal attacks.” Only 42 percent said the same about ads criticizing Coleman" - Star Tribune

The poll shows that Franken has taken a large lead over Coleman:
Franken: 43
Coleman: 34
Barkley: 18


It is nice to see voters have now come to how unfair the Coleman adds really are. Franken has give a great populist message over the past few months. If no good comes from the stock market situation other then the economic policies of non-regulation Bush republicans...like Coleman are bad for the average person. The Middle class needs better economic policies then we have been getting.


Hopefully the DFL can capitalize on this... and build on the 9 point advantage. It is not time to celebrate yet...there is still a month until election day... get out and doorknock ..make phone calls and do some grassroots organizing!!

Race getting close according to recent Polls

Pollster.com results show that the senate race is seemingly getting a lot closer after the primary. The four major polls posted in September have an average of Norm receiving a 3.25% lead over Al. With the entry of Barkley, a former Senator, this race is getting interesting. The DFL has the resources to help Franken. Franken should stress his common roots and Midwestern values. This in addition to questionable votes and motives he has shown about Coleman is the formula to success. The race is winnable, especialy with the Economy now in the forefront. Senators shouldn't be getting trips all over the world, when their constiuents can't pay their bills.

Why Franken? More like Why Not Norm!

Here is The new Franken Add, it seems his campaign although may be considered turning negative by many, is exploiting the questionable record of Norm Coleman.

While Norm decided to attack Al Franken's passionate remarks of the past make him to ill mannered for Minnesota, many taken out of context, Franken is replying with Adds that show real concerns that Minnesotans should consider. Mostly his ties to business instead of blue collar interests.