Election Update

Nothing on Georgia, polls haven't closed, and I don't have access to exit polls, this is all him, Al Franken,^* in Minnesota.

The lede has to be that they found 171 uncounted ballots in Ramsey County, a Franken stronghold, and heads are exploding in the Coleman campaign.

Based on the percentages there, that should net around 30 votes for Franken.

Even so, there are indications that the two campaigns are trying to make nice, or at least appear to, as they are suggesting withdrawing some of their more stupid ballot challenges.

My suggestion: never trust a smiling Republican, and Norm Coleman is always smiling.

Meanwhile the good folks at TPM Election Central have a rundown on recent developments, in addition to the found ballots, we have a further narrowing in the vote, and the
Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, has instructed local election officials to separate rejected absentee based on the reasons for rejection, which indicates that he is taking Franken's challenge to the rejection of about 1K ballots seriously.

My take is that it will all come down to the challenges, and that the Coleman campaign has been much more aggressive with these, so I would give a very slight advantage to Al Franken.

^*It's a roughly 30 year old reference to a running sketch on Saturday Night Live.