So it appears that we'll be headed into extra innings for the Minnesota Senate race. It seems every election, there's one race that never ends, and this year it just happens to be in Minnesota. It was very suspenseful watching the precincts come in late last night, numbers moving up and down every few minutes. 10,000 for Coleman, then a few hundred. Then a slight lead for Franken. Then back again.
Minnesota state law requires an automatic recount when any race is closer than 0.5%. The Franken-Coleman race is seperated by only a few hundred votes. It's about as close to a tie as you can get.
I woke up this morning, hearing the AP call the race for Coleman. I kind of expected that, so I tried to take it with grudging acceptance. Maybe Norm will reemerge as that moderate who was they mayor of St. Paul back in the '90s. Maybe this race will end smoothly.
Fat chance on all fronts. The state is preparing for the recount, which may take a month before completion (yes, that's right, kids - we won't have a winner until December). Then the AP took back its call. Then Norm held a press conference this morning, where he declared himself the victor and declared there shouldn't be any recount. Nice. So much for getting along nicely with that guy. Now all the bad blood from the campaign, and from the last eight years of Preznit Stupid, comes flooding back.
I can't say I'm happy with the way Al Franken's campaign has been run. It was just like a Vikings game - messy, sloppy, too many dumb mistakes. But he somehow managed to keep the race tight, even enjoying slight leads in the polls. And he shows no willingness to concede anything.
Coleman's margin of victory? 571 votes. Damn. This really is the perfect capstone to the Bush era, isn't it? We're right back where we started. No doubt the right will be pumping their "sore loser" propaganda at Franken. Ugh. Deja vu all over again.
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