November 5, 2008
Did Al Franken win?
We still don't know. The erstwhile funnyman faces a recount. And it doesn't look like he'll be smiling that enormous Joker-smile in the end. 99% of the precincts are counted, and Coleman has a 800 vote edge.
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17 comments:
Why not declare them both -- Coleman and Franken -- losers.
Actually, Minnesotans probably deserve Franken. Sickening. They'll get their wish in the automatic recount, I have zero doubt.
(With apologies to the sane people residing in Minnesota, of course *waves from Michigan*)
I like Franken. There's an occasional good line.
Coleman is no prize either. If I were a Minnesotan, I'd certainly have had to hold my nose for that vote either way.
How many Democratic politicians in MN are this morning kicking themselves for not running against Franken in the primary?
Another plus is that they knocked off Liddy Dole, one of the most annoying personalities anywhere.
Two seats in the Senate is not too high a price.
John and Ken had a couple of early Liddy Dole warnings in 1999
real audio 1
real audio 2
There are more write-in votes for Senate in Minnesota than the difference between the two frontrunners!
Franken was harmed -- and Barkley helped -- by voters just like my mom: otherwise voting a straight D ticket, she refused to vote for Franken, but couldn't stomach voting for Coleman ... so Barkley racked up another one.
So... I let my kids mostly fill otu my ballot for me (I don't know if that is legal or not ... but the election judges didn't interfere). We voted 3rd party for president, we voted for their dad for one of the commissioners. However, I asserted my wishes in the Senate race.
Alas, we are the state that had Jesse Ventura, I'm crossing my fingers that we do not have a repeat fiasco. But, in MN, must be something about the cold weather during our February caucuses that drove folks to prefer Franken over Ciresi. Ciresi would have been a shoe-in if he had made it past the party nominating process.
Ciresi would have been a shoe-in if he had made it past the party nominating process.
Precisely. Like the point I made about my mom above, with an 800 vote difference, it's pretty clear that if the D's had only not run Franken, they would have had a shoe-in here.
Al Fraken is a disgusting piece of ****. Not that I have a strong opinion or anything.
Al Franken was a rare democratic misstep...Schumer is probably kicking himself that he worried so much about Hollywood & Soros money behind Franken that he didn't push Ciresi as the more "electable".
Schumer and the Senate Election Committee were not subtle about their preferences in other races - running more centrist, than Left-leaning candidates this year and in 2006, and generally got their man (or women) on the ticket.
So now Big Al can add "failed politican" to his list of accomplishments.
Madison Man, Mike Cirisi ran against Franken, but the party activists were enamored of Franken. Chalk another one up to the echo chamber effect.
This whole episode points to two fundamental problems for Minnesota Democrats. First, there isn't much up-and-coming talent in the Minnesota DFL.
Second, the party has a process that is skewed in favor of the most rabid elements of the base, but repeated state-wide failures have not taught them to reform their system.
Franken brought in a lot of money from out of state. A cynic might be tempted to think that outweighed other considerations for party insiders.
It's not just the Senate race. We had an open House seat that Democrats couldn't pick up.
My guess is that the last-minute lawsuit implicating Norm Coleman's wife probably generated some sympathy for the Colemans and hurt Franken just enough.
Party activists wouldn't like it (because then the loudest scream wouldn't necessarily prevail), but I think the DFL party in Minnesota would benefit from a primary instead of a caucus system. I think it would get rid of the fringe elements, provide for greater participation in the process, and allow an avenue for better candidates to evolve.
In my younger days, I made an attempt to be active (I have caucused), but I became disenchanted ... and now care little about who is in power. I like to see things mixed up so that gridlock results, but with the Democrats in charge of everything, they can run wild and either take credit or blame for the results.
Im still not sure who's won for minnesota (I am a minnesotan by the way), but I sure hope its Franken in the end. We dont want any lingering oil monger douche's speaking for our state. At least Franken (just as Obama - another douche) is the lesser of two evils.
I voted for Coleman (and I also voted for Obama). I never quite understood Franken. I mean, I wouldn't vote for Rush Limbaugh, so why would I vote for his Democratic equivalent?
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