59! (60 If You Count Lieberman)

Senator Al Franken sounds good to us. Coleman finally conceded. And we now officially close the "Election 2008" category.

T...I...M...P...A...You're doing fine...W...L...

As soon as Tim Pawlenty decides to sign his name - which can happen "within days" - Al Franken becomes the junior senator from the great state of Minnesota. Wow. Amy Klobuchar is the senior senator. That sounds weird.

(And we can finally put the Election 2008 category into retirement.)

Since It Is Now a Viable Proven Fact that Republicans are Nuts...

...can we please seat Al Franken and tell Norm Coleman to take a hike? Or a Buenos Aires trip?

NRSC's $750,000 Bailout to Coleman

They're set to spend 3/4 of a million dollars to keep Al Franken's seat empty while most of Minnesota wants it over with. That's obstruction we can believe in.

Coleman Launches Attack on Minnesotans

His new media blitz tells them they're all wrong to want to move on already.

BradBlog: Franken Wins

Of course, we're expecting Norm "Franken Should Concede" Coleman to throw an appeal into the machine. Here's BradBlog's story:

Author and former radio talk show host Al Franken, the Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota, will be the state's next U.S. Senator, according to a final tally by the bi-partisan three-judge panel overseeing challenger Norm Coleman's election contest against him.

This morning in St. Paul, officials from the Minnesota Secretary of State's office, under the in-court direction of the three-judge Election Contest panel in the former Senator's contest against Franken, tallied all remaining lawfully cast absentee-ballots that were not previously opened and counted. This was done on camera, in open court. The attorneys from both sides, along with the media, were all present.

The final tally of the remaining ballots was 198 votes for Franken, 111 votes for Coleman and 42 votes for "other." When this is combined with the initial 225 vote lead, certified by the bi-partisan State Canvassing Board in December, it adds up to a 312 vote Franken victory, arrived at by both a transparent, post-election hand-count late last year, and the painstaking care exercised by the three-judge panel.

There Comes a Time When You Just Have to Say It

Put the damn thing to a re-vote already.

Franken-Coleman Update

Yes. This is still going on. Coleman was just handed bad news (though likely not bad enough to end this thing already).

Ballots that Norm Coleman wants to count took a beating in testimony on Tuesday, while ballots he thinks are illegal were protected by the judges hearing the U.S. Senate trial.

In the latest in a series of setbacks for Coleman, the three-judge panel refused to preserve identifying marks on counted absentee ballots that he claims have been rendered illegal by recent rulings of the court.

The decision hampers the ability of Coleman, a Republican, to challenge ballots tallied in the final phase of the recount, when DFL Al Franken took a 225-vote lead.

Memo to Norm Coleman: Suing to Win is SO 2000

Meanwhile, Franken's about to be declared the winner in Minnesota.

A state election board on Monday will announce Democrat Al Franken has defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, state officials told CNN Sunday.

The canvassing board on Monday will say a recount determined Franken won by 225 votes, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie told CNN.

However, Coleman's campaign, which contends the recount should have included about 650 absentee ballots it says were improperly rejected in the initial count, has indicated it will challenge the certification.

Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said his team believes the recount process was broken and that "the numbers being reported will not be accurate or valid."

Joe the Back Stabber

He just went and pissed off the other half of America. And his love for Sarah is typical of a twice-divorced lonely guy. Easy, pal...you were just campaign fodder for both of them before they kicked you to the curb.

Joe Wurzelbacher lashed out at former GOP presidential nominee John McCain Tuesday, the man who made Wurzelbacher famous as “Joe the Plumber.”

Wurzelbacher told conservative radio host Glenn Beck that he felt “dirty” after “being on the campaign trail and seeing some of the things that take place.”

Recalling a conversation he had with McCain about the $700 billion financial industry bailout in September, Wurzelbacher said: “When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans did not want that to happen.”

“I asked him some pretty direct questions,” he continued. “Some of the answers you guys are gonna receive — they appalled me, absolutely. I was angry. In fact I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.”

Asked why he didn’t leave McCain’s campaign if he was “appalled” by the candidate, Wurzelbacher said, “honestly, because the thought of Barack Obama as president scares me even more.”

While Wurzelbacher was critical of McCain during the interview, he had nothing but praise for his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “Sarah Palin is absolutely the real deal,” he said.

Mark Penn Will Forever Be...

THE MAN WHO BLEW THE PRESIDENCY

"The only thing I can tell you is that they [the Obama people] ran an excellent campaign," he says. "We regarded him as a strong challenger throughout the entire period. There was no question that he had the personal abilities, the resources, all of the things necessary to win."

Really? So why did Penn say in a memo of March 2007 that Obama was unelectable? "Huh. No. It doesn't say that at all." Yes it does, if the facsimile published by Atlantic Monthly magazine is correct. The great communicator appears thrown. "Those memos, right, that came out, were really ... er, were really, I think, show you, you know, just a piece, because ... a small part, a piece of how we were looking to, I think, set up or solve the fact that he was a very strong candidate."

Right. Now, you could say it is unfair to run every pause and splutter in a sentence like that, but it does give a sense of Mark Penn floundering.

Franken Closes In Again

94% of the votes counted, Coleman's lead shrinks to 273.

Palin Will Take Credit

Chambliss wins. The Democratic supermajority loses. There's always 2010.

HEY! GEORGIA!

TODAY'S YOUR DAY. GET OUT AND VOTE FOR JIM MARTIN. NOW.

Get this Chambliss jackhole out of our lives already. If for nothing else, do it for Max Cleland.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, with 92% of the votes recounted, Coleman leads Franken by 340. BUT...Franken is challenging the disqualification of over 1,000 absentee votes.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota...

77% counted, Coleman by 210.

64% of the Votes Counted

Coleman leads by just 120.

Coleman's Lead Shrinks

It's fascinating to see some of the ballots they're coming across in the hand count. Even more fascinating are the arguments being made by both sides on what the intent of the voters were. See them here.

Coleman now leads by a mere 136 votes with 46% counted.

Can We Win This One for Max?

Mr. Cleland would love nothing more than to see Saxby Chambliss go down in flames in the runoff election. Same for us. We should try to give Max Cleland a big effort. Here's what he sent out today.

When Saxby Chambliss ran for the Senate against me in 2002 it was the early test run for the Karl Rove politics of destruction that were finally defeated at the polls this year.

But we're not finished with that victory.

Just a year ago all the national pundits thought Saxby Chambliss had won a seat he could keep forever. Georgia, they thought, wouldn't elect another Democrat. Now Saxby is a run-off election - and running scared.

Show them you haven't forgot how Saxby Chambliss got to Washington. Make December 2nd the last time Karl Rove and George Bush's disgusting political tactics will be on the ballot. Wipe them away once and for all.

Jim Martin did the hardest part - he shocked the pundits on November 4th by forcing a runoff election with Chambliss, and this is a race we can win.

Now Jim needs your help. Republicans are looking for every edge they can to try to block President Obama next year, and they're pouring everything they have into this race. The runoff election is coming up fast, so please follow this link and do what you can to help:

Donate to help Jim Martin defeat Saxby Chambliss.

We won a great victory all over the country at the beginning of this month, but now the Republicans think that if Saxby Chambliss holds on it's proof that there's some life left in the Karl Rove political playbook - and those are the tactics they'll recycle to try and shut down the Senate next year. With a recount in Minnesota and this runoff in Georgia, we are not done fighting to restore decency and common sense in Washington.

So please do what you can to help.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Max Cleland

Bye, Ted

Alaska avoids being called the Land of 100% Wackadoodles. And best of all, Sarah remains governor instead of Ted's successor, so she'll be exiled up there for a while.

Congratulations, Mark Begich.

Special Comment: The Outcome of Proposition 8

Keith Olbermann delivered an emotional response to the passing of Prop 8 in California.

70,000

The number of people who were in Times Square in NYC when Obama was declared president at 11pm Tuesday night.

Nice

PalinAsPresident.com gets its final update.

Guilford County, NC: The Place Palin Called "Real America"?

'Tis blue.

Obama Rally, St. Marks Place and Avenue A, New York City - 2am 11/5/08

"Yes We Can" Shirts

Wow. Thanks to all of you for making this the best-selling item we ever offered, accomplished in just a 19-hour period. We sold so many, I can afford to buy one for Bullit and myself. FYI, the long-sleeve is outselling the short-sleeve by a five-to-three margin. But this isn't a competition. Please, no wagering.