What is Digg?282 Comments
- ReasonWinsOut, on 01/07/2009, -28/+182This isn't being reported on Drudge (for obvious reasons) but I'm glad Nate Silver was the first to pick it up.
The article says exactly what I knew would happen: Franken's margin of victory is nearly insurmountable after the official recount and the tally of absentee ballots BOTH campaigns agreed to count. The lead also renders moot Coleman's lawsuit about the alleged 133 "double-counted" votes; even if you subtract that number from Franken's current lead, he still wins the election by nearly 100 votes.
Congratulations Senator Franken! - Bartboy919, on 01/04/2009, -24/+141he's good enough, he's smart enough, and doggonit, people like him.
- ReasonWinsOut, on 01/07/2009, -7/+99Read the article and it's links and you'll see hundreds of votes for Franken AND Coleman, hardly "none for the other side."
And you know who's counting the votes? You may find this to be "a joke" or "silly": it's, per law, the BIPARTISAN canvassing board who oversaw every step of the recount, including individual ballot challenges, and the counting of the nearly 1,000 absentee ballots that BOTH campaigns and the Secretary of State (per court order from the MN Supreme Court) agreed were WRONGLY rejected.
And, friend, they did all of this in the presence of lawyers and representatives from both campaigns, local and national media, and other election officials. Oh--and here's the really juicy part--they did it all on LIVE CAMERA FEED. Anyone with access to streaming video via the internet or watching on television locally could see the ENTIRE recounting and absentee process--all the tens of hours of it over the past month. Unlike the "recount" in Florida in 2000, this was one hell of a transparent process from start to finish.
So, the real "joke" is that some people continue to believe that this is somehow a "stolen" election. It's a is razor-close election, yes, but it seems clear that Franken is, indeed, the people's choice for senator. - novenator, on 01/04/2009, -13/+84Great news from a great website. IIRC, it was fivethirtyeight.com that first predicted Franken would win this thing after election night, although by only 25 votes. 225 is much better! Al Franken, a close personal friend of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (who held this very seat from 1990-2002), defeated Norm Coleman and will be the next US Senator from Minnesota.
- FarOutGrace, on 01/04/2009, -4/+74It's not on Drudge? That can't be!! Matt Drudge is so fair.
- stonecircle, on 06/11/2009, -6/+67The absentee ballots that Coleman fought to not be counted come from high-Democratic areas. The Court ruled those ballots should be counted.
- cheviot, on 01/04/2009, -16/+77"Who's the new senator from the state of Minnesota. That's right, me, Al Franken."
- swrostmore, on 01/04/2009, -1/+56By "suddenly appeared" you mean Coleman lost his lawsuit to prevent them from being counted.
"Our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." - late GOP Consigliere Paul Weyrich. - novenator, on 01/04/2009, -7/+60ophiddle, if there was EVER a case of transparency in a recount, this was it. Most of the process was televised and explained in clear terms to avoid any wild accusations like yours
- smacksaw, on 01/04/2009, -4/+56I love that website. That guy makes statistics and forecasting sexy.
- tocsy, on 01/04/2009, -6/+53To everyone wondering where Franken's vote lead came from, most of these votes came from mistakenly rejected absentee ballots. Both campaigns had the chance to take a look at these ballots and essentially veto them. As you would expect, Coleman vetoed ballots that were more likely to be for Franken and vice versa. If you take a look at more of that website (fivethirtyeight.com), Nate Silver mentions that Franken may have had better voter records than Coleman, giving him a better idea of who would've voted for him and who wouldn't have, essentially giving him a huge advantage. I'm not sure as to the truth of that, but if so it's kind of shady. Either way, that's where the extra votes came from, not from some DFL member's car.
- IIAmusedII, on 01/04/2009, -15/+58Are all republicans such cry-baby sore losers, or just the ones who post on Digg?
- Anomaly100, on 01/04/2009, -7/+50This always happens, no matter what- If the Repubs lose, it's not graceful, that's for sure. You're even bringing up the old ACORN did it tactic. It didn't work before, it's not going to work now. This is live.......
.....in NYC, it's Saturday Night.....neverrr mind- - DCTBSBN, on 01/04/2009, -1/+41If you'd been following this thing even remotely closely, you'd know where they came from
- GBPACKGB, on 01/04/2009, -2/+42Coleman was a democrat until the republican revolution. A Bush lackey until it became unpopular. He doesn't care about the people of Minnesota, just for furthering his career by doing whatever's politically expedient. Not to mention he's under investigation from the FBI. Franken is the far better choice.
- Maddoktor2, on 01/04/2009, -4/+42"Franken Leaps to Lead on Strength of failed GOP Voter Suppression"
...there, fixed. - thentro, on 01/04/2009, -8/+44For those comments here who have been passively watching the recount and are claiming that Franken found votes in car trunks or some such crap - the entire process has been incredibly open, televised, and litigated. Norm will continue to sue for a little longer, but this latest blow to his chances means that there are not enough votes in question left to give him a victory.
- david76, on 01/04/2009, -6/+40So, you propose stopping counting before all the ballots are counted? Isn't that what you did in Florida?
- TigerStar337, on 01/04/2009, -0/+34Tim Pawlenty, the Republican Governor of Minnesota was on Fox News explaining that the found "extra" ballots story was a false story. It didn't happen.
- charmaniac, on 01/04/2009, -8/+36I love Al Franken. The only downside of his election is that we are going to hear "he's good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like him" over and over and over and over and over.
It was funny in the nineties but that was almost 20 years ago. - novenator, on 01/04/2009, -0/+28It was 3 million votes recounted by hand, not the same machines that did it in the first place. The MN sec. of state said that he was going to do a good job, regardless of artificial time limits, probably so nobody could come back and whine about errors. This was an orderly recount done in an open air of transparency. Thus, things like this, if done right, take time.
- solid12345, on 01/04/2009, -3/+28The Lizard People offer a feast of crickets and flies as tribute to the new Senator as well.
- Clark, on 01/04/2009, -6/+30As a MN resident, I'm relieved.
Coleman's definitely going to take this to court though...., and drag this out for months.
It's a shame, as the canvasing board was highly praised for their conduct with the recount. If Coleman pushes court, it's going to make me think he's even more of a crook. - juankovo, on 01/04/2009, -2/+24I bet Coleman wishes he hadn't voted for The Bailouts now.
- Bartboy919, on 01/04/2009, -5/+27It wasn't there yesterday, WHEN THE DAMN NEWS BROKE.
- IIAmusedII, on 01/04/2009, -3/+24Cry, republican, cry.
- TigerStar337, on 01/04/2009, -1/+21The process was fair. They counted ALL the LEGAL ballots. A person can go to StarTribune.com and review images of all ballots they questioned. The Canvassing board did an excellent job.
- absurdist, on 01/04/2009, -1/+21Another new account, troll? How many is that now?
- relaxeder, on 04/17/2009, -1/+21I like how before all the ballots were tallied, when Coleman initially had the edge he acted all high and mighty and said "I'll leave it up to Al to decide if its worth the energy and investment of public money to hold a recount..."
Now when the results have flipped around in Franken's favor, Coleman's suddenly not feeling so gracious and modest. - random255, on 01/04/2009, -1/+21Pepe is right: some of the Republicans who post on dig aren't cry-babies, they're just a little slow and aren't aware of what "moral ground" means.
- olenick, on 01/04/2009, -0/+20Coleman wasn't just a Democrat; he was hard core 60's liberal -- I remember him flaunting that he was a Woodstock roadie who "inhaled deeply." He's a classic baby boomer turned neo-con.
- IIAmusedII, on 01/04/2009, -1/+20You keep practicing your English and don't worry when other people tell you that you're dumb.
- Mac454, on 01/04/2009, -2/+21About 18 hours too slow.
- threon, on 01/04/2009, -2/+20Only if we get Vice President Chevy Chase too.
- kingofinternet, on 01/04/2009, -3/+20so is your mom but she's still good for doggystyle.
- SystemHasFailed, on 01/04/2009, -1/+18Or just a sore loser. Which is what I'd be thinking.
- freedomjoe, on 01/05/2009, -8/+25why do republicans hate counting real votes -- and cry about "Acorn" on here, when the only people prosecuted for election and voter registration fraud this election were REPUBLICANS???
That doesn't seem to bother them one tiny bit....
Plus the fact that the GOP has admitted that they win when votes are NOT counted.
That attitude is the opposite of a democracy. One of our rights is to cast a vote and have it counted. Advocating against counting all of the votes is a sickening display of Republicans' disdain for the average american citizen. - JoeVet, on 01/04/2009, -3/+19Amazing how these votes suddenly appeared when the process was closely monitored. Or should we say its amazing how many democratic votes were not counted during the original vote count.
- novenator, on 01/04/2009, -8/+24well said Tocsy. Both campaigns agreed on which absentee ballots would be counted, now that it didn't turn Colemans way, they added over 600 ballots to the total from cherry picked, very republican districts.
- FreddieD, on 01/04/2009, -5/+20fivethirtyeight.com made the 2008 election far more enjoyable to follow.
- Bartboy919, on 01/04/2009, -0/+15I dont think of Georgia as stolen in the runoff, and I don't think any other election this cycle was stolen. Your broad stereotypes don't do justice to your vast ignorance.
- avrygoodfrnd, on 01/04/2009, -2/+16Amazing how you're really a complete idiot! I mean COME ON! "Suddenly appeared"?? You're just stupid my friend, face it! Stupid and gullible.
- ReasonWinsOut, on 01/07/2009, -0/+14For obvious reasons: Minnesotans thought their Republican senator was such a contemptibly ineffectual douche that even a liberal talk-show host/form SNL writer comedian can take him down in a razor-close election.
- ReasonWinsOut, on 01/07/2009, -0/+13Actually, this is probably the most transparent recount process in American history--certainly for an election where the margin separating the two is less than .0001%. The BIPARTISAN canvassing board has been setting the guidelines, representatives and attorneys from BOTH campaigns have been part of it all, and the actual adjudicating of challenged ballots and improperly rejected absentee ballots all played out in front of national and local news media, the campaigns, the public, AND LIVESTREAM TELEVISION.
So, gfrysc.... I think you're wrong. If there were any "grift" (did you mean graft?) in this one, it would've been discovered long, long ago. - ReasonWinsOut, on 01/07/2009, -1/+14@OswaldKenobi:
Uh, no Gore didn't go all the way to the Supreme Court. It was George Bush who filed that lawsuit with the SCOTUS to STOP the recount that the Florida Supreme Court said should proceed. - 808ethan, on 01/04/2009, -5/+18I think these close elections illustrate a need for some reform in our government set up. Even if we get the right guy, we're looking at the will of 49.9% of the state being thrown in the garbage. I'm happy its Franken than won, but being Democratic would give some sort of power to each group that voted.
I think this may be why we Americans have some so much trouble getting along with others. Instead of having several groups with power and needing to constantly make *coalitions* we simply give all the power to one guy that squeaks out a win. Then he goes all King-Kong, and tells the losing side to eat a dick. - JoeVet, on 01/04/2009, -2/+14Franken didn't run to the federal courts to decide a state election. The U.S. supreme court had no business getting involved in a state matter. The U.S. electoral process has a clear proceedure to follow if a state cannot pick a winner.....that state is not counted. The federal courts were clearly out of their jurisdiction.
- novenator, on 01/04/2009, -0/+12you would think he would get bored annoying everyone after a while, but I guess some parasites just get off on negative attention
- geoffp, on 01/04/2009, -0/+12Oh yeah. Norm is an empty suit, and I'm glad to see him go. A guy like that sitting in Paul Wellstone's seat has felt like an open wound to me for a long time.
- inactive, on 01/04/2009, -1/+13From the article
" As expected, Al Franken's lead over Norm Coleman in the Minnesota recount has grown to 223, after absentee ballots that both campaigns and the office of Secretary of State agreed were improperly rejected on election night were opened and counted"
Even Coleman wasn't saying these ballots were frauds. -
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