No More Minnesotas
Patrick Ruffini is tired of seeing Democrats win close elections that were apparently won by Republicans on Election Day. He contends, "we are inviting a crisis of confidence in our election system if it looks like the winner is dependent on the time we count ballots: usually a Republican on the day of the election when standard procedures are followed, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 20, 2008 07:31
Minnesota Recount Follies
[caption id="attachment_29028" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Lizard People ballot"][/caption] Both Al Franken and Norm Coleman got good news yesterday, as the courts continued to make up rules well after the election. The Hill: A state Supreme Court ruling, which may exclude hundreds of ballots that Al Franken (D) had sought to include in the recount, could help Sen. Norm Coleman (R) in Minnesota’s contested Senate ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 19, 2008 10:01
Obama TIME Person of the Year 2008
In its quadrennial no-brainer, TIME has named Barack Obama its Person of the Year. Oddly, it takes several paragraphs of throat clearing to get to anything like making a case for the choice: As Obama has moved with unprecedented speed to build an Administration that would bolster the confidence of a shaken world, his flash and dazzle have faded ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 17, 2008 11:10
Jeremiah Wright Unaired McCain Ad
John McCain famously refused to make the Jeremiah Wright affair an issue in his campaign. ABC News has obtained a copy of an unaired ad, which they ran on yesterday's Good Morning America: NARRATOR: Long before anyone knew who John McCain or Barack Obama were, one chose to honor his fellow soldiers by refusing to walk out of a prisoner ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 9, 2008 07:58
Obama’s Cabinet Meetings
My friend Winfield Peterson noted that for the first couple of Cabinet meetings, Obama might have to fight hard to not mention this exchange from the campaign:Somehow, though, I think he'll manage not to mention it. He'll probably chuckle to himself every now and again, though.Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 7, 2008 13:39
Jefferson Defeated by 1st Vietnamese Congressman
William "The Freezer" Jefferson, who has been under federal indictment for three years, narrowly lost a hurricane-delayed election yesterday to Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao. Nine-term Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, who has been battling scandals and a federal indictment for the past three years, lost his bid for re-election on Saturday. Republican challenger Anh "Joseph" Cao, an attorney and community organizer, defeated ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 7, 2008 08:06
Coleman Wins Recount, Too, But Race Not Over
The recount of the Minnesota Senate race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democratic comedian Al Franken has concluded, with Coleman still slightly ahead. Still up in the air, though, is the fate of 133 "missing" ballots (which are almost certainly an accounting error) and a passel of "challenged" ballots that will have to be adjudicated by the state Canvassing ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 6, 2008 06:52
Supreme Court to Decide on Obama Citizenship
A group challenging Barack Obama's citizenship will finally get its day in court. Or, more likely, be among the thousands of cases rejected each year by the Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some opponents of Obama's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 4, 2008 11:29
Obama’s Bipartisan Cabinet
[caption id="attachment_28247" align="alignright" width="300" caption="President-elect Barack Obama takes questions from reporters during a news conference in Chicago, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, with, from left to right: Attorney General-designate Eric Holder; Homeland Security Secretary-designate Janet Napolitano; Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Vice President-elect Joe Biden; Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; National Security Adviser-designate Ret. Marine Gen. James Jones; and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 4, 2008 07:40
More Votes Found – Franken Hurt
The bizarre saga of the Minnesota recount took another bizarre twist yesterday, this time costing Al Franken 36 votes. [caption id="attachment_28239" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A recount worker searchs for the ten correct ballot boxes on her list, which were then opened up and looked into for uncounted ballots at the Minneapolis recount site on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)"][/caption] What ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 4, 2008 07:19
More Franken Ballots Found!
[caption id="attachment_28197" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Election judges Willy Lee (L) and Joanne Caspersen recount marked ballots cast for the 2008 Minnesota U.S. senate race between former Saturday Night Live comedian Al Franken (DFL-MN) and incumbent Norm Coleman (R-MN) at an elections warehouse in Minneapolis November 19, 2008. REUTERS/Eric Miller (UNITED STATES)"][/caption] Since the initial counting of ballots on Election Day, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 3, 2008 07:47
Chambliss Wins Runoff, Denies Democrats 60 Seats
Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss easily won his runoff against Democrat Jim Martin, 57.4 to 42.6 according to the current uncertified totals. NYT notes, [caption id="attachment_28185" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Senator Saxby Chambliss and his wife, Julianne, celebrating his victory on Tuesday in Atlanta. (Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times)"][/caption] The margin was far greater than the three percentage points that ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 3, 2008 07:25
Al Franken Needs Help
Unless something drastic happens, Al Franken will lose his bid to overtake Norm Coleman's narrow first-count win of Minnesota's U.S. Senate election through the recount. He's considering other options, including asking the Democratically-dominated Senate to step in. The math's not in his favor: To win his case before the state Canvassing Board, Franken must prevail on more than 6 percent of his ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 2, 2008 08:55
McCain Ads That Didn’t Run
Most of John McCain's television spots, going back to the primaries, were simply dreadful. Now, Fred Davis III, the "advertising whiz" behind these atrocious ads, is whining to TIME's Michael Scherer that McCain wouldn't let him run some particularly clever ones. What if the McCain campaign had run ads using footage of Barack Obama dancing with Ellen DeGeneres to show ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 26, 2008 07:55
Did Obama Buy the Presidency?
Barack Obama outspent John McCain by an enormous amount. President-elect Barack Obama placed 155% more spot TV ads than John McCain during the general election season (6/08 to 11/08), and almost twice as many ads dating back to the beginning of January when the primaries were just heating up. [...] The local numbers show a much bigger discrepancy than those for national cable ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 25, 2008 14:29
