Polinaut Category Archive: U.S. Senate

Coleman's Harvard speech

Posted at 1:47 PM on November 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck (0 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Minnesota Governor, Recount, U.S. Senate

Former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman gave a speech last night to John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University. You can listen to his speech here:

Listen

The speech originally aired on MPR's Midday.

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Franken discusses health care bill

Posted at 8:24 AM on November 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck (0 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, U.S. Senate

DFL Sen. Al Franken talked about the health care overhaul bill on Morning Edition this morning. He said he's continuing to fight to keep the public option in the bill and won't put a deadline on when it will pass. Franken also said he doesn't like the provision in the House bill that would eliminate the option of abortion coverage in a government national insurance exhange that's proposed in the bill.

Franken, however, wouldn't say if that was enough for him to vote against the bill.

Listen to the interview with MPR's Cathy Wurzer here:

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Biden comments on recount

Posted at 5:03 PM on May 6, 2009 by Mike Mulcahy
Filed under: Recount, U.S. Senate

Al Franken and V.P. Joe Biden met privately in D.C. today. After the meeting Biden's office issued this statement:

"The election process and recount in Minnesota have lived up to the state's reputation for organization, transparency, and bipartisanship. The officials have been meticulous and every ruling has been unanimous. While Sen. Amy Klobuchar is one of the hardest working members of the United States Senate, Minnesotans deserve their full representation. Once the Minnesota Supreme Court has issued its final ruling in this case, the President and I look forward to working with Mr. Franken on building an economy for the 21st century."

And Franken issued this:

"I deeply appreciate the administration's ongoing support and the opportunity to meet with Vice President Biden today. Minnesotans are eager to see Congress make progress on the administration's agenda - and I'm eager to do my part in that effort. From investments in alternative energy to the expansion of high-speed rail to the Twin Cities, we have a lot to do to help Minnesota's working families, and I was pleased to discuss these important issues with the Vice President."

Her dad covered the Vikings

Posted at 4:35 PM on January 30, 2009 by Mike Mulcahy
Filed under: President, U.S. Senate

Politico reports Sen. Amy Klobuchar is invited to President Obama's Superbowl party. I'll bet he has a nice TV. Just be careful not to choke on the pretzels.

Canvassing board weighs absentees again

Posted at 9:34 AM on December 12, 2008 by Tim Nelson (2 Comments)
Filed under: Recount, U.S. Senate

10:58 AMCleary admonishes campaigns to keep withdrawing "frivolous" ballot challenges. Meeting adjourns.

10:55 AM Discussion is winding up. Consideration of challenged ballots is scheduled for December 16 through 19 and the board seems to be ready to take the various reconsiderations, of both absentee and challenged ballots, as they come.

10:48 AMCanvassing board starts discussion on a second motion, outlining how the Canvassing Board will consider the corrected returns if wrongly rejected absentee ballots are found and counted.

Magunson suggests to do so is putting the cart before the horse and says it would be better to wait until some of those returns are available. Clearly says it would be bad faith to ask them to reconsider with out a guarantee that the canvassing board would accept the results.

"I don't like making a decision I don't have to make," says Anderson.

10:35 AM Motion passes asking county officials to separate properly and allegedly improperly rejected absentee ballots. Magnuson repeats that the canvassing board can't compel this action. Vote is unanimous.

10:27 AM Ramsey County District Court Judge Ed Cleary says he's inclined to include the improperly rejected absentee ballots. "We do not have authorities to make findings of fact or conclusions of law on the absentee ballots rejected for reasons...Those that have improperly been rejected are uncounted ballots... The bottom line is that I think we're disenfranchising voters that followed the law."

Magnuson suggests that the state courts may be a better place to consider this, since judges can issue orders and assess penalties to make these considerations happen, whereas the canvassing board cannot.

Gearin says she can't understand why a county wouldn't reconsider if the canvassing board asks. "If the local people, in the trenches, if they made a mistake, then that vote should be accepted."

Anderson weighs in and says he's inclined to go along with Cleary's suggestion to ask these ballots be reexamined and reconsidered by the canvassing board. He says there are some ballots rejected without any indication at all that they were in fact rejected. But he seems to be saying he thinks the courts ought to eventually weigh in.

Ritchie rephrases the motion. Cleary offers some clarification. County canvassing boards reconvene, separate rejected absentee ballots into properly and improperly rejected ballots.

10:20 AM Attorney General Lori Swanson says she believes the canvassing board has the authority to recommend local elections officials reconsider their wrongly rejected ballots and correct their vote totals. Ramsey County District Court Judge says some counties seem to have done that already and that the Canvassing Board will have to weigh in on this whether they like it or not.

10:16 AM Gelbmann says that officials in Duluth report that many absentee ballots were rejected because the witness to the absentee vote did not date their signature, but an administrative review of the law seems to indicate that they didn't have to date them.

10:15 AM Deputy secretary of state Jim Gelbmann offers a summary of the situation of absentee ballots that may have been wrongly rejected, through no fault of voters. He says 49 counties have completed their supports, that 3 have sorted but not reported their results and 24 should sort out rejected ballots next week.

So far, 4,023 absentee ballots have been re-examined and 638 have been determined to have been wrongfully rejected. That works out to about 13 percent of all disqualified ballots have been wrongfully rejected.

That's even higher than the 9 to 10 percent Mark Ritchie was estimating earlier this week. That would work out to about 1,587 wrongfully rejected ballots out of 12,000 statewide.

10:08 AM Board votes unanimously to include the 133 missing ballots from Minneapolis in the official vote total.

10:07 AM Supreme Court Justice Eric Magnuson lauds elections officials, says there is no evidence to show the canvassing board should not accept the vote total results Reichert has offered and moves to do so.

10:05 AM"We believe there was 2,028 ballots fed into the counter machine that night," Reichert says. She says the roster shows 2,030 signed in, but that people do occasionally leave without actually voting.

10:00 AMReichert asks canvassing board to use election night totals, rather than hand recount with missing ballots. Attorney General Lori Swanson summarizes the legal situation. She says the canvassing board has the authority to use the election night returns, in her opinion.

9:56 AMAgenda moves to missing ballots from Minneapolis' Ward 3, precinct 1.

City election director Cindy Reichert takes to the witness table to talk about the missing ballots. "We thought as we went through the process... that they would come up," she said. They called the chief election judge at the polling place, but got no further indication of what happened.

A search went though spoiled ballot envelopes, ballot receipt envelopes, but found nothing. Search turned to an audit of the voting statistics, and a second search of the elections warehouse on Dec. 4.

"We determined definitively that the ballots were missing," says Reichert. The custodian at the polling reported he didn't find anything. Search expanded to City Hall, a van used to transport elections materials. Another warehouse search was conducted on Dec. 5.

9:45 AM Ritchie is proposing adding votes from withdrawn challenges to the existing vote total, ahead of the consideration of the challenges next week. Chief Supreme Court Justice Eric Magnuson seconded. Approved.

9:40 AM State elections director Gary Poser earlier reported 3,594 challenged ballots. The number has grown since then, to 6,655 challenges. There have been several thousand withdrawls, and now Poser says 4,472 challenges remain.

9:34 AM Mark Ritchie just announced that the crowd is at capacity in the Capitol's Room 15. Standers will have to watch a video feed in the cafeteria.

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The (Re)Countdown--what could happen?

Posted at 10:24 AM on November 7, 2008 by Tim Nelson
Filed under: Campaign 2008, Recount, U.S. Senate

For now, Minnesota's U.S. Senate race is looking to set a record as the closest election in the history of that legislative body. A 355-vote margin in New Hampshire's election in 1974 is the current record.

That one wound down to a truly memorable finish. After two recounts in New Hampshire and more than six months of deadlock at the U.S. Capitol, the Senate declared New Hampshire's senate seat vacant on August 8, 1975. That was 276 days after the polls closed. Democratic challenger John Durkin and Republican incumbent Louis Wyman squared off again in a September re-vote.

But in the Watergate era, it proved extraordinarily difficult for the Republican incumbent. Wyman's Democratic challenger, John Durkin, took the seat by 27,000 votes.

That's not how it is likely to play out in Minnesota, though. How about this for a doomsday scenario?

The state has a vacancy law (204.D28) that deals with precisely such matters, and it has come into play several times. The first was in 1976, when U.S. Senator Walter Mondale was elected Jimmy Carter's vice president. Gov. Wendell Anderson resigned and had his successor, Rudy Perpich, appoint him to the vacant seat. The political maneuvering effectively ended Anderson's political career. The second case was in 2002, when Senator Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash and Gov. Jesse Ventura appointed Dean Barkley to the Senate.

Here's the relevant part, though: If a recount of this year's election stretches into January, either the state courts or the U.S. Senate (which is the ultimate arbiter of the election of its members) could declare Minnesota to have a vacant senate seat. That would trigger the state's vacancy law, which allows the governor to appoint a senator.

The law makes a crucial point here: "An appointee shall hold office until a successor is elected and qualified at a special election or until a successor is elected." That means that come January 3rd, 2009, if the matter still hasn't been settled and the election's victor declared, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be theoretically able to appoint a U.S. Senator (likely a Republican) who will serve at least until Nov. 3, 2009, when another election is held and a winner "qualified." Which is to say he or she gets a result certified by the state canvassing board and the seven day contest period expires.

According to Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky, who long served in the Secretary of State's office, that would make for a term of office ending Nov. 25, 2009. That would make for a 325 day senate term -- presuming Pawlenty doesn't appoint incumbent Norm Coleman.

And here's where the real trouble comes. If, say, the Republicans successfully argue to a state judge on January 3 (or shortly after) that the undecided election amounts to a vacancy in the office, they could effectively nullify this week's election. Minnesota's vacancy law doesn't have a look-back provision. Even if the election were subsequently settled, the law doesn't apply a past election to a vacancy that has already been filled. Filling the vacancy would automatically trigger a do-over in the next November.

Presumably, that would only occur if it looked like Coleman were trailing or in a bad legal position.

And state law wouldn't stop Al Franken from going to Washington, D.C., telling the secretary of the Senate that he is the real victor and asking the Senate to seat him, without an election certificate. That would presumably spark a debate in the U.S. Senate over whether the seat is vacant and touch off Lord only knows what kind of a political struggle between Washington D.C. and St. Paul.

In short: even a recount might theoretically leave this year's Senate race unfinished.

How a bill becomes a law

Posted at 5:08 PM on November 1, 2008 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)
Filed under: U.S. Senate

A listener from St. Paul sent me this wondering how the Minnesota GOP (which paid for this flyer) could confuse the number of votes needed to end a filibuster (60) with the number of votes needed to override a veto (67).

Should we chalk this up to a last minute lack of proofreading or a poor understanding of the constitution? If the Democrats somehow end up with 67 Senate seats after the election that REALLY would be news!

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MPR poll shows comments hurt Bachmann

Posted at 9:54 AM on October 24, 2008 by Mike Mulcahy (2 Comments)
Filed under: President, U.S. MN CD6, U.S. Senate

A new MPR News/ University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute poll shows voter concerns over Rep.Michele Bachmann's recent comments have cost her support in the 6th District.

The poll of 430 likely 6th district voters shows 45 percent favor DFL challenger Elwyn Tinklenberg, compared to 43 percent for incumbent Bachmann. Support for Bob Anderson, the Independence Party candidate, was 5 percent.

The poll's margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.7 percentage points. which means the race is a statistical dead heat.

The survey was taken after Bachmann publicly questioned whether the views of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama were anti-American, and suggested the media investigate the anti-American views of Congress.

Nearly 4 out of 10 6th district voters said they were less likely to support Bachmann because of her comments compared to 8 percent who said they are now more supportive.

Bachmann's level of support trails John McCain, and Sen. Norm Coleman, who both have leads in the heavily Republican district. Coleman's 14 point lead over Democrat Al Franken is much bigger than McCain's 3 point lead over Barack Obama in the district.

Coleman had 44 percent support in the district compared to Franken's 30 percent. IP Senate candidate Dean Barkley is polling at 17 percent in the 6th District, and 9 percent are undecided.

In the presidential race in the 6th, McCain has 47 percent and Obama has 44 percent. Seven percent are undecided.

By way of context, Bachmann defeated DFLer Patty Wetterling 50-42 percent in 2006. In 2004 President Bush won 57 percent of the district's vote compared to 42 percent for John Kerry.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 21 and Oct. 23.

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Norm Coleman's 2nd RNC address

Posted at 6:56 PM on September 3, 2008 by Molly Bloom
Filed under: Campaign 2008, U.S. Senate

Sen. Norm Coleman addresses the Republican National Convention again. This time he welcomes "hockey mom" Sarah Palin to the "state of hockey" and talks about how Republicans will help working families.

Listen here:

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Norm addresses convention as approval ratings slip

Posted at 1:41 PM on September 3, 2008 by Molly Bloom
Filed under: Campaign 2008, U.S. Senate

Last night, Sen. Norm Coleman addressed the Republican National Convention, welcoming the delegates to St. Paul.
Update:He'll also be addressing the convention tonight shortly before 6:30.

He's also been using the RNC as an opportunity to do some serious fundraising, as the Washington Post reports.

But at the same time, a new Survey USA poll shows that Coleman's approval ratings are slipping. The survey shows that 44 percent of Minnesotans approve of Coleman, while 51 percent disapprove. This is the highest the disapproval number has been since Survey USA first started tracking Coleman's approval ratings in May 2005.

Bachmann and Coleman to speak tonight

Posted at 12:03 PM on September 2, 2008 by Molly Bloom
Filed under: Campaign 2008, U.S. MN CD6, U.S. Senate

The RNC has confirmed that Sen. Norm Coleman and Rep. Michele Bachmann will be speaking at the convention tonight.

I will post what times they will be speaking as soon as the schedule is confirmed.

Update: Coleman will take the stage sometime between 7:00-7:30 and will be welcoming the delegates to St. Paul.

Update 2: Bachmann is slated to speak at 7:30, after Coleman.

New poll shows Obama with big Minnesota lead

Posted at 10:00 AM on June 26, 2008 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)
Filed under: President, U.S. Senate

A poll of four battleground states by Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal and the Washingtonpost.com raises real questions about whether Minnesota even deserves to be in the "battleground" category in the race for president.

The poll of voters in Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota shows Obama leading in all four states. But in Minnesota he tops John McCain by a blowout margin of 54-37.

Obama also has a big lead in Wisconsin 52-39.

The margins are closer in the other two states.

But as positive as the Minnesota poll results are for the Obama campaign, they contain troubling news for supporters of DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken.

The poll shows Republican Sen. Norm Coleman leading Franken 51-41. And Coleman's lead is even bigger among independent voters 55-35.

"Sen. Obama sweeps nearly every demographic group in Minnesota, including whites and blue collar workers, to lead by 17 points, the biggest lead in the four states surveyed. At the same time, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, with overwhelming support among men and a tie among women, has a 10-point overall lead over comedian Al Franken, the Democratic challenger," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

And the poll also raises questions about the value of Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a McCain running mate.

"Most voters say it would not make any difference in their vote if Gov. Tim Pawlenty is McCain's running mate," Richards added.

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