Franken Could Still Have the Last Laugh

A razor-thin margin in the contest for a Minnesota Senate seat between comedian Al Franken, the Democrat, and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman will trigger an automatic recount that is likely to stretch into December.

The Star Tribune:

Republican Norm Coleman finished ahead of Democrat Al Franken in one of Minnesota’s tightest Senate elections ever, but the margin was so slim it triggered an automatic recount.

Of nearly 2.9 million ballots cast, Coleman led Franken by 727 votes in unofficial returns from the Minnesota secretary of state. Coleman had 1,211,628 votes, or 42.03 percent; Franken had 1,210,901 votes, or 42.01 percent.

Dean Barkley of the Independence Party was third with 15 percent.

The margin was well within a threshold set by state law for an automatic recount that could drag into December. Franken had the option of waiving the recount, but he said he wouldn’t.

Read more

publicradio.org

Al Franken said his campaign was looking into reports of irregularities in Minneapolis, where he said some voters had trouble registering.