Senatorial runoff - Ouch

[John_C]

Today is the senatorial runoff here in GA.  If the democrat wins they will have a "super majority" in congress; a very bad thing in my mind.

When I went to vote around 8:00 this morning there was nobody in front of me and one other person showed up after I had voted and was chatting with the volunteers at the polls.  This same polling place had > 70% turnout for the general election.  The runoff is generating a big yawn.

It appears the last vestige of congressional balance of power will be decided by a very small number of voters.   

[MountainDon]

Glad to see you were out there doing your part John. Now we wait and see.

[fishing_guy]

John,

They are continuing the recount of votes here in Minnesota for our choice of senator.  As of now, the Rep. is beating the Dem by 292 votes, but that changes daily.

After seeing the contested ballots, it is amazing to me the mentality of some voters.  All we require is a filled in circle on the ballot to vote.  Some can't even accomplish that.

The other thing that gets me is the time it takes to count ballots.  Been going on for 2 weeks now, and they still have 15% of the ballots left to count.

[MountainDon]

I think they count by committee; everyone has to agree that 5 comes after 4, then once they agree they plod on to making certain that 6 comes after 5, and so on.

That and the poll counters are probably drawn from that same pool that can't fill in a circle on the ballot. 

[Squirl]

Technically the democrats would have 58 if Franken and Martin win.  Franken has been over 200 votes behind since the recount began.  I don't think he will pull it off. Martin doesn't have a very likely chance either.  There are also two independents in the senate.  Both caucus with democrats for house rules but that does not matter in a super majority.  The only thing that a super majority does is to end debate and bring a bill to the floor on a filibuster.  The filibuster rule could be changed at any time by a simple majority to make this moot(nuclear option).  The republicans tried to do this in 2004 (good thing they didn't).  It makes no difference whether they have 56 or 60 or 66.  Also, democrats are severely unorganized.  They break party lines all the time.  Republicans march in lock step.  The only numbers of significance are 51, 67, and 357.

[apaknad]

what amazes me about this recount w/that idiot franken is that initially i think it was an eight hundred vote difference and each time they recount the difference gets smaller and smaller. why doesn't the number go up? makes it look like somebody is trying like hell to get franken in NMW(ala g. bush in florida).

[Squirl]

The final official vote count difference in Minnesota was 215 in Coleman's favor.  This triggered an automatic recount under Minnesota law.  It wouldn't have surprised me if it went either way.  Coleman's lead has expanded to 286.  Both sides have around 5000 challenged ballots so, this will probably be decided in court.  With the supreme court being mostly republican, I can't see it going to Franken.

[MountainDon]

With 92 percent of the precincts reporting, Saxby Chambliss (R) has captured 58 percent to Martin's 42 percent.