Small Progress In Minnesota

The Minnesota canvassing board finished processing all the challenged votes yesterday, which netted Al Franken (D) four votes. He now leads by 50 votes. However, there are major disputes on the improperly rejected absentee ballots. Franken has said he wants all the absentee ballots that county officials have said were improperly rejected to be counted. Coleman wants a small fraction of them to be counted plus a list of almost 700 other ones from rural counties. We are nowhere near resolution on this one and it certainly won't be over when the new Senate convenes next week.

Cornyn Against Provisionally Seating the Certified Winner

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said yesterday that the Franken camp is promoting chaos by claiming victory when his lead is artificial and was created by double counting votes. This is Coleman's line, of course, but Coleman hasn't produced a shred of evidence to back up his claim. Cornyn also said he was against provisionally seating Franken if he is certified the winner. What Cornyn didn't mention is that in January 2007, the House, then controlled by the Democrats, did provisionally seat Vern Buchanan (R) of Florida even though there was a lot of evidence that something was wrong (large number of undervotes in Democratic counties that used voting machines but not in other counties).

Help Create A Transparent Voting System

At change.org, people can vote for the change they want to see in the new administration. There will be a big push to lobby for the winning causes. If, in light of the above, you are interested in open and transparent elections, you might want to take a look at transparent elections. If you like the idea, click on the 'Vote' button to create an account and vote. You don't have to be a registered voter to vote in this 'election' so noncitizens and minors can vote, too. The deadline for voting is midnight tonight.

Blagojevich Names Obama Successor

President-elect Barack Obama spent yesterday with his family at the Honolulu zoo. Meanwhile in the political zoo of Springfield, IL, embattled Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D) named former state attorney general Roland Burris, 71, to Obama's Senate seat. Burris is black and the move was transparently cynical, hoping to convince a few black and Latino state senators not to vote for his conviction once he is impeached, which is a virtual certainty. He knew very well that his nominee would never be seated in the Senate since the entire Democratic caucus signed an open letter telling him point blank that it would not seat anyone he appointed.

While no Illinois state senators commented on the announcement, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), a former black panther, immediately injected race into the question by saying Burris should not be "lynched" for Blagojevich's misdeeds. HIs colleague, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), then lit into Rush for injecting race into the matter. From Hawaii, Obama condemned the appointment, saying that he fully agreed with the Senate Democrats. Another person who is not enthusiastic about the pick is Jesse White, the Illinois secretary of state, who has said he won't certify the appointment, an action required to make it official.

Article I Sec. 5 of the constitution reads: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members..." That section doesn't normally get used a lot, but the Senate may need to dust it off next week as no fewer than two seats are in dispute now: Illinois and Minnesota. What happens if both Burris and Franken show up in D.C. and claim to be U.S. senators? The Burris flap makes it a little harder for the Senate to accept Franken while rejecting Burris as people like Rush will no doubt say it is racist (even though Obama does not want Burris seated). An easier course for the Senate would be to reject both of them, Burris permanently and Franken until the courts have ruled on the case.

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