County officials in Minnesota have identified 1350 absentee ballots that were probably incorrectly rejected. A Minnesota supreme court ruling last week ordered the two Senate candidates, Al Franken (D) and Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) to decide which ones to count. The sparring over them will begin today. Heaven only knows when it will end. The canvassing board will meet tomorrow.
Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a prodigious fundraiser for the Clintons and other Democrats is busily raising money for himself now in preparation for running for governor of Virginia in 2009. Virginia was once a bastion of the Republican Party, but that has changed in recent years. In 2005, Tim Kaine (D) was elected governor, in 2006, Jim Webb (D) was elected senator, and in 2008 Mark Warner (D) was elected senator and Barack Obama (D) won the state by 7 points. McAuliffe might raise $80 million. It wasn't that long ago that you could run for President on that budget. Against that kind of money and with the state's northern suburbs becoming more Democratic by the day, McAuliffe will be formiddable competitor. The current governor, Tim Kaine, is forbidden by law from succeeding himself.
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D-IL) has predicted that the Illinois state legislature will impeach and convict Gov. Rod Blagojevich by Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, Feb. 12, 2009. If that happens, Quinn will become governor of Illinois. Blagojevich is steadfastly maintaining his innocence despite federal charges that he tried to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat.
Between all the primaries and caucuses and general election races for President, Senate, and House, and a smattering of gubernatorial contests, there were close to 600 top races in 2008. The polls and pundits got well over 95% right, but there were nevertheless a few surprising upsets. Politico has a story on the 10 biggest upsets of 2008. Here is the list.
| Race | Predicted Winner | Actual Winner |
| Iowa Republican caucuses | Mitt Romney (R) | Mike Huckabee (R) |
| New Hampshire Democratic primary | Barack Obama (D) | Hillary Clinton (D) |
| South Carolina Republican primary | Mike Huckabee (R) | John McCain (R) |
| Special election in IL-14 | Jim Oberweis (R) | Bill Foster (D) |
| General election in VA-05 | Virgil Goode (R) | Tom Perriello (D) |
| General election in AK-AL | Ethan Berkowitz (D) | Don Young (R) |
| North Carolina Senate | Elizabeth Dole (R) | Kay Hagan (D) |
| Indiana presidential | John McCain (R) | Barack Obama (D) |
| Presidential NE-02 | John McCain (R) | Barack Obama (D) |
| Runoff in LA-02 | William Jefferson (D) | Anh Cao (R) |