The Final US Election Thread

[Martok]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,449334,00.html



There gets to be a point where coincidence just don't cut it.

CR

Sorry CR, but Fox News is no more credible a source than MSNBC....and in many ways, it's even less so.

In any case, I think the answer is simpler than what the article implies: While overall we're fairly centrist, Minnesota does tend to lean to the left more often than to the right -- it's hardly a coincidence that both Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale hail from here. In any statewide race that's close enough to warrant a recount, simple Law of Averages is more likely to favor the Democratic candidate. Now whether Franken will benefit from that remains to be seen, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

Franken has never appealed to me all that much. His left-wing screed books are horrendously argued, overtly biased, blindly partisan, and on the same level as Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity.

Why anyone would make this man a Senator is beyond me.

I'm not exactly enamored of him either, but I'll be damned if I was going to vote for the man who moved in lockstep with Bush 99% of the time (and only bailed when the situations with Iraq and the economy started visibly souring). This year's Senate race presented us Minnesotans with the classic "lesser of two evils" scenario -- pick your poison.

That being said, if he votes with the Democratic majority, that's useful for the nation in getting legislation passed. We can toss him out if he becomes a problem, and if the legislation that gets passed is too extreme, it will be reversed by a less partisan congress. The beauty of elections is that they aren't permanent.

Finally, I have no problem with a full investigation into a race as close as this. I don't want Franken getting in due to any kind of funny business. I'd also be interested in a runoff election. Didn't both top candidates only get some 43% of the vote? I think the supporters of the third candidate should be given the option to weigh in on which one of the remaining candidates they would prefer.

However that's wishing, not a solution. Recount it by hand, and allow a Republican, a Democrat, and a non-partisan to review each individual ballot which is even remotely questionable. There should be clear guidelines as to what ballots should be counted and which ones should not.

The Dems already have a clear majority, so it doesn't bother me if Franken gets in or not. Just how he gets in.

Ditto that. At this point, my main concern is that whoever wins the seat will have done so legitimately -- no shenanigans for me, please.