Elections

Minn. Republicans held their seats, but weren't well liked

Filed under: Elections

Minnesota Democrats didn't take over Republican held seats in highly contested U.S. districts, but the GOP winners still had a rough year. They won their seats, but that doesn't mean their district stands behind them.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at December 2, 2008 9:42 AM | Comments (0)

 

Minneapolis's Joe Plummer supports Obama

Filed under: Elections

Image courtesy of Channel 2 News in Charleston, N.C.

Minneapolis's Joe Plummer says he's enjoying a post-election respite after Republican presidential candidate John McCain made his moniker a household name.

Plummer, a 34-year-old engineer with the Minnesota State Energy Office, was out for the evening with his wife on Oct. 15, the night that John McCain first introduced "Joe the Plumber" to the nation in the third presidential debate. He came home to the blinking light of telephone messages. "Hey, McCain brought you up," one caller said. "Hey, Tom Brokaw said Joe Plumber was the winner of the debate," another teased.

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Posted by Erin Carlyle at November 26, 2008 4:40 PM | Comments (0)

 

Dayton replaces stolen laptop: Good deed or good press?

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 25, 2008 4:15 PM | Comments (23)

 

'Lizard People' voter supports Franken

Filed under: Elections

His ballot has been discarded as an overvote, but Lucas Davenport wanted to make one thing clear: He intended to vote for Al Franken in the race for Senate. So we hope that means Franken isn't a lizard person? 

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 25, 2008 10:47 AM | Comments (1)

 

Recount recap: Monday's exponential challenged ballots

Filed under: Elections

Monday brought more recount-typical stories and a whole bunch of new challenges. Norm Coleman seems to be adding to his lead, but reports are saying that doesn't say much with the amount of challenged ballots yet to be counted. 

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 25, 2008 10:24 AM | Comments (1)

 

Klobuchar's advice in recount: Become her best friend

Filed under: Elections

If Minnesota's Senate recount stretches into January and you are itching for a ticket to President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony, Sen. Amy Klobuchar should be on the top of your BFF list. She already should be, in fact, because the longer you wait, the lower you are on her list of potential ticket holders. Hurry up!

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 24, 2008 4:00 PM | Comments (1)

 

'Lizard Person' voter loves attention

Filed under: Elections

The now infamous "Lizard Person" voter looks even more hilarious after the latest development. Minnesota Public Radio didn't chase this voter down. He emailed them and offered to talk about his vote.

Apparently lovers of Lizard People appreciate self-promotion and attention too.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 24, 2008 2:53 PM | Comments (1)

 

Lizard People voter comes forward

Filed under: Elections

Photo courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio

If you remember one contested ballot from the Norm Coleman vs. Al Franken recount, remember the vote for "Lizard People". The ballot made national blogs as the country pointed and laughed at our really smart voters. Now the supposed "Lizard People" voter has come forward, saying the vote was a joke. Hear the explanation in his own words.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 24, 2008 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

 

Senate recount rages on, even over the weekend

Filed under: Elections

 

The work week ended, but some recounting sites raged on to speed up the process of the Senate recount in the Norm Coleman and Al Franken race. And it gave the local media something to talk about this weekend.

In the latest Star Tribune numbers, Coleman leads with 180 votes. There have been 1,982 challenged votes so far and still much more to come. We hope some of these challenges (like the one with a random line on the back of it) will be dropped before the canvassing board has to analyze the stack.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 23, 2008 10:55 PM | Comments (0)

 

St. Paul Saints present Count von "Re"Count

Filed under: Elections

Greetings! It is I, the Count. You are just in time to count ballots with me. One, one ballot. Two, two, ballots. Ah ah ah! I love it! Isn’t that fun? Wait… this doesn’t look like two ballots.

During a tedious and often too-serious Senate ballot recount, the St. Paul Saints know how to lift spirits. In another smart public relations move, the Saints announced their next must-have souvenir: Count von “Re”Count. The figurine, which resembles a bobblehead, will instead have a spinning head that changes the winner faster than you can count ballots. One side is Al Franken, one side is Sen. Norm Coleman. Getting dizzy yet?

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 21, 2008 5:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

Take down your campaign signs... or else

Filed under: Elections

Photo by aboemonster

OK, you've had a whole week after the 10-day mark to take down your political campaign signs in your front yard and you still haven't done it. We know because we walk by your house every day and they are still there. The city and state say you should have taken them down Nov. 14, but now you've gone too far. Our plea to you: Please take down your signs and don't waste city money by making them send you a letter.

We know how great you feel when you walk into your home and remind yourself you did vote for the first black president. Or maybe the sign reminds you that you aren't as crazy as the rest of America that drank the Kool aid and voted that guy into office.

Why should you care? And why isn't this violating your freedom of speech? We interviewed Paul Smith, zoning investigator for Minneapolis' Community Planning and Economic Development department to find out.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 21, 2008 3:51 PM | Comments (1)

 

Coleman's camp temporarily charms media with a pun

Filed under: Elections

Earlier today, Norm Coleman's Senate campaign sent out this charming email announcement to reporters about the Fritz Knaak, Coleman's senior counsel for the Senate recount, daily update:

"Knaak, Knaak."

"Who's there?"

"Not Fritz, we're giving the media a break today."

How clever! The campaigns have been holding daily briefings every day on the recount. Al Franken's campaign had a briefing earlier today.

Well, don't get warm and fuzzy for Coleman so quickly.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 21, 2008 2:21 PM | Comments (0)

 

Coleman/Franken recount update: Challenges galore

Filed under: Elections

Photo courtesy of LA Times

The challenges from the camps of Norm Coleman and Al Franken are getting more intense, at least in Ramsey County.

The Star Tribune is reporting an increased number of challenges in what was a pretty calm recount site:

There were only 10 challenges Wednesday and Thursday, thanks largely to post-recount mediation sessions both afternoons during which county Elections Manager Joe Mansky and attorneys and volunteers from both campaigns sat down and whittled the challenges down when the voters' intent was clear.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 21, 2008 1:36 PM | Comments (0)

 

Why the Minnesota recount isn't so bad

Filed under: Elections

At least we don't have to go back to our polling place to vote. We really do have some things to be thankful for, if you can believe it.

Georgia Democrat Jim Martin is facing off with Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in a Dec. 2 runoff and President-elect Barack Obama is still dealing with election politics, says the Boston Globe.

The seat is pretty important to the new Obama administration. If Martin wins the seat and Al Franken squeaks away with a win here in Minnesota, the Senate will have a Democratic supermajority.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 21, 2008 11:00 AM | Comments (4)

 

Recount recap: Day 2 meant more contested ballots

Filed under: Elections

Norm Coleman's and Al Franken's representatives at the recount sites are finally learning how to play the game. What's the best strategy? Contest every ballot you can for really ridiculous reasons. A random small dot? Or how about a little line on the BACK of the ballot? Oh this is silly.

Here is your recap of Day 2 so you are ready for Day 3.

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Posted by Emily Kaiser at November 21, 2008 8:28 AM | Comments (0)