Cue the Republican pre-emptive accusations of favoritism by the MN SecState, election stealing, calls by Coleman for Franken to stop wasting the taxpayers' money, etc.

In five...four...three...two...

It's gotten cold here in Minnesota.

The difference between Franken and Coleman is expected to bounce around a lot because the counting is being done by and reported by county. If Democratic leaning counties are reporting first, we might expect Franken to appear to be catching up.

A better indication of how the recount is going is to see how a county's total have changed between the certified totals and the recount totals. Unhappily, I have not yet seen such data.

-Bob

This could turn out to be one of the closer races of all time.

how a county's total have changed between the certified totals and the recount totals

That is what is being reported here.

For greated detail, please see:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/34736454.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUs

Apparently, according to comments on HuffPo today, Limbaugh et al. are already claiming Democrats are stealing this one. So funny - they never can admit that the GOP does it. (See Florida vote recount halted in 2000; numerous illegal actions by Ken Blackwell, Bush campaign co-chair and coincidentally, state Secretary of State, in Ohio 2004.)

Greeting from MN,

According to the Star Tribune the votes gained were St. Louis County which is a strongly Demcratic leaning area - bubble too light to read by scanners --

Article also state that both campaigns had each disputed 100+ ballots. Those ballots will be decided by canvassing board. Not sure if there is a judicial challenge possible to canvassing board ruling given make up of board ie 4 judges out of 5 members.

Ramsey County and Hennepin Counties, St. Paul and Minneapolis respectively will have much to say about the outcome, those numbers have yet to announced.

Miles to go, etc

according to npr this morning, 15% of votes have been recounted (I'm guessing this means 15% of counties). Recount must be completed by Dec. 5. Franken has indeed closed the gap by some 50 votes. And, a canvassing board spokesperson claimed "surprisingly few" ballots have been challenged.

But I'm staying tuned ...

I know this is crude estimation but:

(214-174)/215 = 0.19069767441860466

So, approximately 18% of the way thru the recount, it is approximately 19.5% of the way thru a reversal.

This could very likely come down to a handful of votes, and the balance of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance. Wow. This could be even closer than the 9 people that decided the 2000 presidential election.

oops, that's

(215-174)/215 = 0.19069767441860466

Greetings from Mn

Seems increasingly clear that the campaigns are challenging ballots that the voting officials think meet the statutory test of 'voter intent'

So is it Observer Adrenaline, are campaigns hoping to intimidate the counters or is it more cynical, they know the canvas board will rule the challenged ballots as votes but then we get to play the "They stole it" game...

Long way to go

Greetings from MN

MPR has posted images of some of the ballots being challenged

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2008/11/19_challenged_ballots/

Take a look and then vote, how would YOU rule?

Enjoy the journey

WarLord

I seem to recall that only a few weeks ago the GOP was screaming that ACORN was perpetrating the greatest voter fraud in US history, something that would imperil the very future of our democracy! So why aren't we hearing anything about them now? What role have they played in the MN Senate race being stolen by the Demoncrats? C'mon Rush and Hannity and O'Reilly, I depend on you for timely, factual, well-researched information! Please start telling us about ACORN's sinister connections to Franken and the Minnesota DFL Party, right away!

That was fascinating!

Seems like both campaigns are making some frivolous claims. (The thumbprint as the "identifying mark" is a bit much). But I think several of Coleman's challenges are decidedly silly, and voter's intent is pretty clear.

174 votes was the difference between Coleman and Franken after the first day of counting. After the second day, I'm guessing that it's narrowed to 129 votes, with about half the precincts and 40% of the total votes recounted. Each side has challenged over 400 ballots which will be judged in December, it would appear.