I agree with Norm Coleman
It’s not too often that I agree with Norm Coleman on anything, but I am uncomfortable with the ruling by the Minnesota State Supreme Court that says that both campaigns must agree on which absentee ballots were improperly rejected. Like Governor Tim Pawlenty said, and I rarely agree with him either, it doesn’t seem right that either campaign should have veto power over who can vote. I think it should be like the recount. Challenged ballots should go to the state canvassing board.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like Norm Coleman. I think he used his wife as a human shield in the last days of the campaign. I think people who voted for him are stupid. But the recount still needs to be fair.
If I were the Franken campaign, I would concur with Coleman on this one. It would reduce doubts and criticisms surrounding the process, serving to disarm the opposition, and giving Franken more of a mandate if he wins.
No matter which set of absentee ballots is counted, I expect that they will break for Franken. While historically Republicans have pushed for people to vote absentee, in 2008 Obama was the one who was aggressively promoting it, perhaps because he was ahead in the polls and statistically the odds were on his side.
posted by Tom Cleland @ 1/02/2009 06:28:00 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I just got off the phone with a fellow Green who I had told months ago that a Franken win was a foregone conclusion. I told her that I guess I spoke too soon on that one! I didn't anticipate so many people continuing to trust Coleman...
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/coleman_okays_counting_ballots.php
"The local election officials throughout Minnesota have now identified about 1,350 absentee ballots that they've concluded were rejected by clerical errors...The Franken campaign supports the counting of all 1,350 ballots. But the Coleman campaign has come back with its own list of 650 ballots, coming mostly from his own strongholds, that the campaign says were wrongly rejected and are worthy of being included. So it looks like they're not only cherry-picking, but they're not being at all subtle about it."
http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?p=1269
"...Local officials have reviewed all of these ballots at least twice, and found them properly rejected, and Coleman has produced no evidence or reason to think otherwise."
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