Minnesota Recount Complete: Franken Ahead by 225 Votes
The Minnesota canvassing board finished counting all 900
rejected absentee ballots that the parties agreed on yesterday and the unofficial count puts
Al Franken ahead by
225 votes.
Franken won 52% of the newly counted
absentee ballots to Coleman's 33%, with the rest going to independent
Dean Barkley or there was no vote for senator. There is nothing left to count now.
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has not conceded. Instead, he has filed
suit with the Minnesota Supreme Court asking for more absentee ballots
from other counties to be counted. If he loses this case, he has promised
to file another suit. It is not clear if he really thinks he can win or
he is merely stalling to reduce Democratic strength in the new Senate
for the first month or so. If the Minnesota and Illinois seats are empty
Tuesday, the Democrats will have 57 seats (counting Sen. Bernie Sanders and
Sen. Joe Lieberman, independents who have lunch with the Democrats on Tuesdays)
and the Republicans will have 41 seats. Cloture requires a 3/5 majority or
58.8, presumably 59 in practice, so the Democrats will be 2 shy. If Franken
wins and someone is seated from Illinois in the fullness of time, the
Democrats will have 59 seats and be one short.
Having a former comedian in the Senate may seem odd, but other senators have somewhat
unusual backgrounds, too. Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) used to be a veterinarian and former
Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) was a blacksmith. At least Franken is accustomed to speaking
to large numbers of people and is able to keep their attention. Many senators were lawyers,
but the step from being a lawyer to being a lawmaker isn't really so obvious when you
come to think of it. Senators make public policy, which is really quite different than
defending clients in court or writing contracts, which is what lawyers do. Senators
don't really even need a detailed knowledge of the law since the actual laws are written
by staff members. Few, if any, senators spend the day sitting at their computers typing in
the text of the law they are working on.
Six-way Race for RNC Chairman Heats Up
The battle for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee has heated up.
The Republican Party has essentially been decapitated. Without a President, Senate majority
leader, or House Speaker, who represents the party? John McCain is not going to run again
and has little credibility as national leader. While Sarah Palin is wildly popular in some
circles, she is no shoe-in in 2012, so she is hardly the party leader either.
De facto, the party leader is probably going to be the chairman of the Republican
National Committee, which is currently engaged in a vigorous
six-way election
for chairman. The candidates are as follows:
Saul Anuzis |
Michigan |
Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party |
Ken Blackwell |
Ohio |
Former Ohio Secretary of State |
Katon Dawson |
South Carolina |
Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party |
Mike Duncan |
Kentucky |
Current chairman of the RNC |
Chip Saltsman |
Tennessee |
Former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party |
Michael Steele |
Maryland |
Former lieutenant governor of Maryland |
The chairman is elected by the 168-person RNC, a body with three members from
each state, where American Samoa, D.C., Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico,
and the American Virgin Islands count as states. Republicans Abroad does not count
as a state and is not represented despite the fact that about 7 million Americans live
overseas, which would rank 13th as a state (in contrast, Democrats Abroad counts as a
state for the DNC).
The election for RNC chairman is not only about who will wield the gavel at RNC meetings,
but is really a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. Does the party
want to become more conservative, strengthen its base in the South, and reflexively
oppose everything the Democrats do (Saltsman, Dawson)? Or does it want its own
50-state strategy, copied from Howard Dean (Anuzis, Steele)? Or it could keep on doing
what it is already doing by re-electing Mike Duncan. Unusual for the Republicans, two
of the candidates are black (Blackwell and Steele). Does the party want to reach out
to minorities? Electing a black man as national chairman would certainly send a message
of inclusion. However, neither of the two black candidates is ideal. Blackwell was
extremely controversial in his role running the 2004 Ohio presidential election and
was crushed in his run for governor of Ohio in 2006.
Steele's last run for public office was his defeat by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
in 2006.
Saltsman is no stranger to controversy either. Part of his campaign to woo the
168 RNC members was to send each one a package of information about himself and his
goals that included a CD with a track
Barack the Magic Negro
to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon." It caused a huge uproar. Some Republicans said it
was a tempest in a teapot and America has a long history of political satire
(see: Franken, Sen. Al). Others felt that if the party wants to expand its nearly all-white
base, this is not a good start.
There are no polls about how the 168 eligible voters are leaning. Probably the safest
course is to stick with known leadership and reelect Duncan. On the other hand, Duncan
presided over the party machinery during the 2008 disaster for the Republicans, so
"more of the same" may not be the most attractive option. We'll see.
McAuliffe Announces VA Gubernatorial Bid
Being national party chairman has some other advantages, too. It has launched
quite a few people to elective office, George H.W. Bush, for example. Now a former
DNC chairman, Terry McAuliffe, is
running
for governor of Virginia. McAuliffe is a prodigious fundraiser. It is thought he
can raise $80 million for this race. Virginia is becoming a blue state, with statewide
victories for Gov. Tim Kaine in 2005, Sen. Jim Webb in 2006, and Sen. Mark Warner and
Barack Obama in 2008, so McAuliffe has a decent shot at it.
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