Polinaut: December 18, 2008 Archive

The Daily Digest: 12-18-08

Posted at 8:03 AM on December 18, 2008 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Daily Digest

The State Canvassing Board begins Day 3 of reviewing ballots. They are now moving with assembly line efficiency.

The board finished with Franken's challenges and move on to Coleman's challenges. One issue to arise is the fate of duplicate ballots. GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign is arguing that double voting has occurred. MPR, the Pi Press, the Star Tribune, Forum Communications and MinnPost have stories.

The campaigns (and the public) are also waiting for the Minnesota Supreme Court to rule on the fate of rejected absentee ballots. A hearing was held on the matter yesterday. MPR, the Pi Press, the Star Tribune, AP, KARE and Forum Communications have stories.

The Star Tribune says the recount has pointed out cases for needed reform.

WCCO takes a look at money raised for the recount.

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman will use campaign funds to pay his legal fees.

State Budget

Gov. Pawlenty to announce his cuts on Friday. LGA and Higher Ed cuts are on the table. MPR, the Pi Press and AP have stories.

Schools are making cuts ahead of state action.

Economy

The Minneapolis Federal Reserve says 2009's economic outlook looks bad.

State Government

A push for same sex marriage is coming in 2009.

The Public Safety Department will now revoke driver's licenses after failing to do so after losing information found many in a computer shuffle.

Congress

Minnesota's delegation mostly voted along party lines.

DFL Rep. Keith Ellison travels to Fargo, ND to fight for 23 workers from India who were jailed for allegedly holding false documents.

Stu Rothenberg lists some Minnesota candidates in his year end awards (GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, GOP Rep.-elect Erik Paulsen and DFLer El Tinklenberg).

Obama

President-elect Obama is set to tap GOP Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois as Transportation Secretary.

He also picks Mary Schapiro to head the SEC.

President Bush invites Obama to lunch with all of the former presidents.

Gay rights advocates are angry that Obama selected Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren to deliver his invocation at the inauguration.

Minnesota loses more jobs

Posted at 10:04 AM on December 18, 2008 by Tom Scheck

The Department of Employment and Economic Development said the state shed 10,500 jobs in November.

Say what?

Posted at 10:16 AM on December 18, 2008 by Tom Scheck

We're nearly a month away from the transition of power. President Bush has been sitting down for exit interviews, etc. Gallons of ink will be written about the administration in the final month as well.

Late night comedians are also going to have to get more creative since they won't have President Bush and his verbal gaffes to kick around anymore. MSNBC produced a video with some of the more memorable ones (The video also shows Bush poking fun at himself):

UPDATE: A new poll by Pew Research Center for People and the Press says "just 11% say that Bush will be remembered as an outstanding or above average president - by far the lowest positive end-of-term rating for any of the past four presidents."

Coleman campaign: We're going to start losing but will win

Posted at 1:13 PM on December 18, 2008 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign is trying to get in front of tomorrow's story today. In other words, they are telling reporters that Democrat Al Franken will take the lead in the recount. Coleman's campaign attorney held a news conference earlier to explain their methodology. The campaign also said this in the news release:

We are in the process of withdrawing approximately 400 of those, and because the board did not have time to pull them out of the line-up before today's meeting, today you'll likely see the numbers flip upside down as a significant number of those withdrawals go back into the Franken column. Because of the timing, the withdrawn challenges that will provide additional Coleman votes will not be awarded until later. This will cause a temporary flip today that will be righted once all the ballots have been reviewed and withdrawn challenges reinstated, likely by tomorrow.

Question of the Day: Is Coleman's team correct or is this the beginning of the end for them?

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House DFL pulls a page from playbook.

Posted at 1:29 PM on December 18, 2008 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

The House DFL Caucus has established a page on their website calling for the public to contribute budget balancing ideas (AKA spending cuts). This isn't the first time they used this strategy. Last session, the caucus created a hotline, a website and held public hearings on finding solutions to lower property taxes.

House and Senate DFLers say they also intend to hold public hearings across the state after Gov. Pawlenty releases his budget proposal in January. They say they'll use the meetings to gauge what works under Pawlenty's plan. In 2003, both caucuses used a similar strategy when the state was facing a $4.5 billion budget deficit.

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Let's play Senate style 3 card monte!

Posted at 2:04 PM on December 18, 2008 by Tom Scheck

Everyone is paying close attention to the latest numbers in Minnesota's Senate race. Before the board met, Coleman was up 188. After Day 1, he was up 362. He's expecting to be down to Democrat Al Franken after Day 3.

Here's one problem...

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of challenged ballots that have been withdrawn from both campaigns. We're not certain if those ballots will be dedicated to Coleman, to Franken or to the Other pile. The Secretary of State's Office is working to process the withdrawn ballots and redeclare the vote to the call made by the local election official during the recount.

What makes things tougher is that the campaigns are now restoring some challenges that they withdrew earlier. They're doing this because they know that the board is acceptable to certain challenges. They are also withdrawing challenges that they know have no chance of being upheld.

As one colleague put it, the campaigns are playing 3 card monte and no one knows the real number.

Pawlenty to announce cuts at Friday presser

Posted at 4:19 PM on December 18, 2008 by Tom Scheck

His office says the news conference will be at 2 PM.