Capitol View®

The Senate recount resumes this morning after a four day break for Thanksgiving. They hope to finish the recounting by Friday. The Star Tribune says Democrat Al Franken faces a math problem. The U of M’s Smart Politics blog says a win by GOP Sen. Coleman lead would be historic. They say it would be…

The Minnesota Historical Society has created a podcast that examines the recount in the 1963 Governor’s race between Karl Rolvaag and Elmer Anderson. It also includes some great historical footage (including JFK). You can check it here.

Pretty slim pickings on the Digest front. I can’t find any counties that are recounting ballots today. Let me know if you know of any. Forum Communications has a story focusing on how the Senate recount could end up in the courts. Three ballots were challenged in Sibley County. The Star Tribune posts some challenged…

Happy Thanksgiving. The State Canvassing Board rejected Al Franken’s campaign plea to review any rejected absentee ballots. The Star Tribune, Forum Communications and the Pi Press have stories. MPR says the recount inches closer to a court challenge. AP says Franken is pondering his options. The Pi Press looks at one person who had their…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is weighing in on the Canvassing Board’s decision. Here’s the statement: REID: MINNESOTA VOTERS MUST NOT BE DISENFRANCHISED Washington, DC–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today after the Minnesota Canvassing Board confirmed that absentee ballots rejected by poll workers would not be included in the states Senate…

The five members of the State Canvassing Board have unanimously rejected a request to include rejected absentee ballots in the ongoing U.S. Senate recount. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said there may be more than 10,000 rejected ballots, possibly as many as five percent of the absentee ballots counted. A little under 10 percent of…

The Coleman campaign this morning offered an “olive branch” in the recount, after what they said was a sharp spike in challenged ballots in Sherburne County. Actually, they used the word “debacle”. “The day ended last night with over 700 ballots challenged in this one county alone,” said Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan this morning,…

The State Canvassing Board meets today and could make a ruling on rejected absentee ballots that could determine the outcome of the U.S. Senate race. MPR talks with some folks who think their ballot was wrongly tossed out. The Pi Press, Forum Communications and the Wall Street Journal set up the hearing. Franken’s campaign said…

As the number of challenged ballots eclipses 3,500 (which continues to concern SOS Mark Ritchie), Norm Coleman’s attorney, Fritz Knaak, calls for a truce. “It has become apparent that both campaigns are engaged in a mounting game of ballot challenging that serves no useful purpose. This is not the way the recount process was intended…

President-elect Obama is scheduled to meet with a bipartisan group of governors in Philadelphia next Tuesday to talk about how the economic crisis is impacting states. Governor Pawlenty’s spokesman, Brian McClung, says Pawlenty will attend the meeting.