Alright, so Al Franken is finally in the lead as/of Today. I'm not a dumb bunny. I know that this race is basically too close to call. However, I  also know that part of what happens in races like this are, that there are going to be changes as the final vote tally comes down to the wire.

IMHO there is a statistical measure of certainty to certain things you're going to find out about - but NOT for a vote.
There is only one , right - valid count of this vote total and I just dont see how it will be different from the final vote count already tallied, the one in which Coleman won.

And the reports today that Franken is in the lead come from where? An anomaly in the recount process where the day before, a certain number of ballots were left on a jump decision - so that Coleman comes back into the lead on Monday? Or is this actually the point at which Frankens claim that he won - actually holds water?

Seriously, what is going on up there? I want the truth, not lies and the lying liars that tell them. I want to know the real story, once and for all. Whats really going on up there in Minnesota?! Does anyone really know the real story?

There's more...

While the counting of challenged ballots continues and there is still the issue of the inappropriately uncounted absentee ballots to be resolved by the Minnesota Supreme Court, it is VERY encouraging to see that the current Minneapolis Star-Tribune estimate for the result of the challenged ballots projects Franken to come out of the resolved challenges with a 171 vote lead. This is a big enough lead that the US Senate would probably seat Franken, pending the outcome of the court challenges.

These projections WILL be changed somewhat by the recount board, but they should be pretty good ballpark projections for a final total (without any votes added because of the uncounted absentee ballots). The good news is that the Star Tribune projections are much more optimistic than the Franken camp's projections, which estimated that Franken was up 8 votes total if all challenged ballots were allocated per the decision of the County recount official who first judged them.

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Is this Minnesota Senate race giving you heartburn too? Well here's an antacid: The latest poll there (Oct 28-30) has Al Franken leading Norm Coleman by 5.

Barack Obama is going to win an easy victory in Minnesota, the newest survey from Public Policy Polling finds. He leads John McCain 57-41 in the state.
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The real story in Minnesota is the state's competitive race for US Senate, which remains tight although with a definite edge for Democratic nominee Al Franken. Franken leads with 45% of the vote, followed by incumbent Norm Coleman with 40%, and independent Dean Barkley with 14%.

PPP President Dean Debnam: "...Barack Obama's incredible popularity with the state's voters may have the secondary effect of putting Al Franken over the top in this incredibly tight Senate race."

Also of note, this poll sampled 1,050 likely voters, a much higher number than many other recent polls of this race.

Now, with a little help from his friend Barack and a great ground game...this one can definitely be won. And Franken better win, because Nov. 4th won't be complete without that nasty empty suit Bush crony Norm Coleman going down in flames.


GO AL GO!!!

I wrote this today for Beyond Chron, San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily.

Yesterday, comedian Al Franken made it official that he will run in 2008 against Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman. There is no Republican who I want to see defeated more than Norm Coleman - who challenged the late Senator Paul Wellstone in 2002, and only won after Wellstone tragically died in a plane crash. Franken formally announced by video on his campaign website, and acknowledged that voters should be skeptical about whether a comedian could be a serious politician. He spoke from the heart about growing up in Minnesota, what issues he passionately believes in, and that Paul Wellstone was his "political hero." But it's still unclear if Franken really deserves to get Paul's Senate seat. Is it reasonable to have a media celebrity "rescue" Democrats from Norm Coleman, and is Al Franken really that progressive anyway?

There's more...