Minnesota News
The Great Minnesota Recount began yesterday in the hotly contested Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Democrat Al Franken. With 18% of the vote recounted, Coleman's lead has shrunk from 215 votes to 174 votes. In addition, the Franken campaign won a major court battle when a judge ordered Ramsey County officials to turn over the names and addresses of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected. A key part of the Franken strategy to make sure every vote counts, including absentee ballots that were rejected for minor technical reasons, in some cases caused by clerical errors made by county employees. On the whole, Minnesota election law is fairly liberal and basically says that if the intent of the voter can be determined, the vote counts, even if there are small technical errors such as Zipcode missing on absentee ballots. The Franken campaign will undoubtedly try to use this ruling to get similar rulings in other counties. The Coleman campaign says that ballots that do not conform to exactly what the law prescribes must be rejected.
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The Fall of the Republican Party
The Economist says the Republican party "lost the battle of ideas even more comprehensively than they lost the battle for educated votes, marching into the election armed with nothing more than slogans..."
"Republicanism's anti-intellectual turn is devastating for its future. The party's electoral success from 1980 onwards was driven by its ability to link brains with brawn. The conservative intelligentsia not only helped to craft a message that resonated with working-class Democrats, a message that emphasised entrepreneurialism, law and order, and American pride. It also provided the party with a sweeping policy agenda. The party's loss of brains leaves it rudderless, without a compelling agenda."
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Senate Republicans in a Funk
"Down to 42 seats with two still at risk, Senate Republicans are in a deep funk," Politico reports.
"Some are in denial. Some want a return to conservative principles. Some want to cut deals. Some want more filibusters. Others want to jump out a window -- but they're afraid they'd screw that up, too."
The reality: "Two years ago, the Republicans held a 55-45 majority. They're down 13 seats since then, with a too-close-to-call race in Minnesota and a runoff in Georgia still to come."
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