I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. - Thomas Jefferson

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Democrats ran and won in 2006, and then again in 2008, on the bad behavior of republicans. Republicans were successfully and correctly painted as having lost their fiscal sanity for the deficit spending prior to 2006, only to have democrats gain control of congress and the spending purse after the 2006 elections, and set new spending records they then blamed Bush for. The leftwing machine’s manipulations of the facts, with big-time help from a complicit media that didn’t point out democrats were always worse at that stuff anyway when in charge, allowed them to run on the lack of fiscal responsibility of the republicans in 2008 again, using the crisis of their own making that they then blamed on Bush yet again, to win big, only to then proceed to set new deficit spending records. Here is the graph for those of you that want to dispute the deficit spending facts, so spare us the bull:

As this projection showed Obama’s deficit spending in his first year ended up being more than all 8 years of Bush. Oh sure, as I already pointed out Obama is blaming Bush for having to do so. Democrats have successfully convinced so many that the financial crisis we are in isn’t tied to those idiotic collectivist economic lending practices they forced upon the market in the last 3 decades. Even worse, they successfully have covered up the rigged games Franks and Dodd set up with Fannie and Freddie to keep those faulty economic policies afloat, and how those trading scams then led to the implosion of the housing market and then the financial sector. But that “It’s Bush’s fault” excuse is wearing thin as people are slowly seeing the truth. Almost $2 trillion of the tax payer’s dollars has been funneled to democrats and their friends, through one collectivist economic scam or another promising salvation, but delivering nothing but a drastically growing government bureaucracy, while the private sector continues to bleed jobs and contract. And the WH remains focused on tacking on trillions more in new taxes and debt so they can give government control of healthcare moneys and decisions, with a scam which purports to reign in costs and be fiscally responsible by of all things taxing us for 10 years to provide 5 or 6 years of coverage, while ignoring the economic disaster they are leaving in their wake. And the one thing they should be addressing, the lack of jobs, gets nothing but some meaningless political play. In the mean time the hole is growing deeper and the spending of money we simply don’t have continues to rise. This year is looking like it will set even higher and wasteful deficit spending records as this February’s $220.9 billion single month record is showing. This seems to be our economic future thanks to the democrats and their economics. But the fact that democrats are destroying our economy, and are trying hard to destroy healthcare, is not the thing I want to address here. I want to talk a bit about one of the other lies they told to get themselves elected.

If you have been following the whole Eric Massa fiasco, you know this stuff has turned into a soap opera writ large. Frankly I do not know if Massa is telling the truth. He is a democrat after all, and lying is second nature for them. However, I do not put it past this WH to do what Massa has accused them of doing either. Based on what I have seen them do in just this first year, I have no doubt that this bunch is probably the most corrupt crew I have ever seen. We are dealing with Chicago politics here, and this – hope & change! - is SOP for these people. My bet is that since Obama wants this monster passed, his team is going to make it happen. Even if they have to do what Massa has accused them of. In fact I do not put it past them to resort to openly committing felonies to do so considering the vested interest they have in making this the law of the lad. After all, they control the levers of power and the press, so whose gonna be able to do anything about anything bad they do? If the stuff that has been going on so far hasn’t made the case yet, I doubt anything they do will.

And that brings me to my point about this whole Massa thing. If you don’t remember Nancy promising to drain the republican swamp and end the culture of corruption back in 2006, here is just one of the instances the sympathetic press gave her words play. Unfortunately, as case after case proves – Chris Dodd, Barney Franks, Charley Rangel, and a plethora of others – Nancy lied, and the corruption and criminal behavior, like the deficit spending and the fiscal irresponsibility I talked about before, is also setting new records. Don’t take my word for it. The case with Massa is more of the same. Even more important is the fact that while Pelosi is now claiming ignorance that’s a blatant lie because Nancy knew months ago about Massa’s behavior. And while Nancy is playing dumb, just a little research would have made it all obvious from records going back to Massa’s NAVY days showing that Massa was a time bomb waiting to explode.

As is the case in all these other stories of corruption that the MSM is ignoring or down playing, we are being lied to by these democrats that want to pretend real criminal activity and serious ethics violations, stuff that makes what happens when the republicans were in charge look tame, isn’t their modus operandi. And keep in mind that it is this scandal driven congress which is ignoring the will of the people and pushing forward with an unpopular government takeover of healthcare. Why isn’t the MSM up in arms about all this corruption and the will of the people being ignored? I guess that’s more of that hope and change for you.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

The CATO institute has this very intersting post about the direction of 5 decades of federal spending. Of particular interest was this graph below.Look at that spike in 2009. Look at it hard. Then compare it to anything you see during the eight years before that.

The most intersting part is that the leftists want to pretend we are in our current fniancial predicament because of defense spending - which clearly keeps dropping - while non-defense spending, that’s code for most of the collectivist pap, has grown bigtime. With this kind of crazy spending, it’s no wonder that another campaign promise has gone out the window. Hope and change indeed.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I am worried that everyone here, including myself got way too focused on the first part dealing with the credit card issue, in my post below, and either ignored or missed the real big point in my post: that the collectivists screwed our economy up, even worse than usual, policy wise, and that it is going to get worse if they keep at it.

I used the example of how they rammed through the stimulus patronage bill, but everyone of their big policy pushed through was disastrous for the economy. Let me enumerate them for you. I hope for the day that we do not need to go into the details and the consequences of the left’s response to the economic crisis of their own making either, but the truth, facts, and logic, never seem to be things the left cares for, so I guess I need to quantify that again. Despite their best efforts, the truth has come out. Those that want to know the facts know that we are where we are today because of ideological policy. It was ideology that drove these politicians to legislate the conditions that resulted in the economic collapse we experienced. Lending institutions were forced by law into giving money to seriously unqualified people. Then when this still was not working the same politicians legislated a hokey and completely opaque trading scheme for those securities based on toxic assets, and used Freddie and Fannie to showcase government backing of these dangerous schemes and legitimize them. Finally they decided to bring down the house of cards, right before an election – so they could score on the political perception, one I never quite understood, that democrats are better for the economy – to win the presidency and big gains. Now their solution to an economic slump that I am certain they did not predict or expect to be this big, is for them to meddle even more but keep the underlying fundamental and illogical problem in place. That’s going to work well.

That above brings us to the government takeover of the banking and lending industry, and the consequences of that. While they demonized the TARP program as corporate bailouts with tax payer money, these leftists not only saw the $700 billion that the Bush people put up, but raised it to over $3 trillion, and are even floating the idea government might have to buy out the entire system fro some $29 trillion. Many of those institutions that lined up to drink at the trough of public cash, now regret the deal, but the real and frightening danger is this concept that government should micromanage the private sector and directly work against market influences collectivists don’t like or approve of. The same ideologues in control of government that created the problem in the first place, I should add. As I already said: this is going to work out well.

I won’t waste too much time on the government take over of two out of three American car manufacturing companies. There is no way of defending the tax payer funded takeover of these companies. Even more disgraceful is how that tax payer money was not used to pay off those people that put their own money on the line as investments in GM or Chrysler, but to prop up unions as majority stake holders. Yes, the same unions that are the fundamental underlying problem which made these companies unable to compete and cranked out the low quality wares that turned people off. Talk about your mob style pay-offs. And now the politicians in DC can tell both Chrysler and GM to make cars nobody really wants too.  I am sure that once other companies, but especially Ford, all start running circles around these two, that the politicians will use the power of government to rig the system in favor of their new holdings. At the tax payer’s expense, of course. What do you think the “Cash for Clunkers” program was all about anyway? How well has that worked?

We also got graced by the watermelons – the collectivists masquerading as environmentalists – with the “Cap & Tax” bill: the largest and most massive single tax increase passed ever by our politicians. The average American family of four will now get to pay anywhere from $1000 to $4000, depending at whom is talking and how they come up with their umbers, in extra costs and fees tied to their energy use every year. Since they are “costs and fees” I guess we could all tongue in cheek try to defend Obama’s blatant lie that he would not raise taxes on anyone making less than $250K. Don’t worry this going back on his promises, especially about taxes and who will pay them, is going to happen so often we will soon be numb to it. It is all going to work out well!

Every one of these moves was intended to bring in some huge section of the private sector, and more importantly the money in it, under control of the federal government. But no plan was as ambitious, or deceptive, as the healthcare insurance government take over, attempt. Oh, sure they guarantee us that’s not the plan, but only the dumb or the propagandists in the MSM fall for that blatant and obvious lie. The left wants to take the 1/5th of our economy tied to healthcare and put it in the hands of the politicians. To cut costs and improve it, they tell us. Except for the obvious fact that if they really wanted to cut costs and improve anything, they would avoid as much government meddling as possible. Not increase it. Want healthcare reform donkeys? Give us less government and tort reform. Neither of those are part of the plan however, because the plan is not about fixing anything healthcare related, now is it. The collectivist lies don’t seem to be working so well, though.

The only place that these leftists have felt spending needs to be cut is in defense. I am sure that it will be these same people telling us the next time that we need to send our troops into harms way that we should not because they lack equipment. Kind of like when we had to go deal with Iraq and they tried to blame Bush for the defense cuts of the Clinton years. Defense jobs I guess are the types of jobs collectivists think are bad, I guess. How long before the democrats undo the sacrifices of the last 7 years and guarantee us a future war in the ME that will cost us 10 times as much as what we already paid? That’s coming, and I can’t wait to see how well it works for us..

There are many more examples of this. It has not been more than what, 9 months, since they have taken over, and foreign and economic policy decisions have all been disastrous. While the rest of the world looks to be moving out of the recession, we are going deeper into it. Don’t believe the constant MSM propaganda saying otherwise. These people are covering for the incompetent ideologues in DC because they have a vested interest. About the only thing that the Obama people have gotten right is the Bush GWoT policies the left used – notice I say used to – get totally crazy about. Funny that huh? I think Obama’s actions are working well to vindicate Bush.

Cross posted at Wasting time with Alex

Saturday, January 03, 2009

He found enough.  He stole enough.  And doggone it, he’s a senator:

Norm Coleman’s term as a U.S. senator ended at noon Washington time on Saturday, and by evening his hopes of winning a second term had been dealt an expected but serious setback as state officials counted previously rejected absentee ballots in St. Paul.

DFLer Al Franken held an unofficial lead of 225 votes over Coleman, according to a newspaper tally of the officials’ count of the absentee ballots. Franken had led unofficially by 49 votes going into the day and gained a net 176 votes from the new ballots.

With the recount complete, focus immediately shifted to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which continued to consider a request from the Coleman campaign to alter the process and add more absentee ballots to be reconsidered. But by early evening there was no word from the state’s highest court as to when it would rule or hear arguments.

At this point, any court challenge is purely perfunctory.  Coleman should show the honor Franken never would and concede.  And that’s ... OK.

With Franken and Caroline Kennedy in the Senate, late night comedians are not going to lack for stupid quotes.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

And the Bumbler of the Year Award goes to:

...Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Her name is unlikely to appear in any other sentence in the coming weeks with the word inaugural, although it didn’t have to be that way.
....

How she lost the nomination and her shot at becoming the nation’s first female president will go down in political history as one of the great campaign screw-ups of all time.

To be fair, President-elect Obama’s campaign was extremely well-run and better funded than anyone could have possibly imagined. He smartly saw that the caucus states offered him a special opportunity for convention delegates that did not exist in the primaries where Sen. Clinton’s name recognition and support of the party establishment was a much bigger plus.

But if the Clinton campaign had done sufficient planning and staffing for the states that voted in the three weeks after the Feb. 5 “Super Duper Tuesday” primaries and caucuses, all of his work probably would have gone for naught.

The Clinton strategy had been to clinch the nomination on Feb. 5, when 22 states held Democratic primaries and caucuses. And that day, like most of the other Tuesdays during the winter and spring, they basically wrote off the caucus states.

Fighting to a Virtual Draw

Sen. Clinton - and basically everyone else - expected her strong name identification and favorable image among Democratic activists, combined with a presumed (incorrectly it turned out) money advantage would deliver her the nomination that day. But Mr. Obama fought her to a virtual draw on Feb. 5, when almost 40% of the delegates were decided. He took the more numerous smaller primaries and caucus states, while she was winning the handful of big prizes — New York, New Jersey and California.

He, however, had planned and budgeted for the 11 contests during the rest of February. She had not - a victim of her campaign believing its own hype about inevitability.

President-elect Obama won all 11 primaries and caucuses by big margins the rest of the month and rolled up a 125-delegate advantage during that period. But just as important as the delegate numbers was that his winning streak made him the favorite. That, as much as anything, prevented a Clinton comeback.

By then the Democratic delegate allocation rules that govern the primaries and caucuses took over. They are much more generous to second-place finishers than in the Republican process; that allowed him to stay ahead even though Sen. Clinton won major contests in March and April, including Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In the end, President-elect Obama won the nomination by more than 125 delegates, but that was only after all those “superdelegates” who could support whomever they wanted did the math and realized he could not be stopped.

If Sen. Clinton had just broken even in those 11 post-Feb. 5 contests, she very likely would have won the nomination. Her primary victory would have come in a year when the Wall Street meltdown meant that most any Democratic nominee would win the November election.

Outside of John McCain, I can’t think of anyone else who could have gotten the brass ring and blew it so badly. She was worse than Al Gore or John Kerry-they at least won their respective nominations despite being enormous horse’s asses. As it is, she’ll now be fourth in the line of succession. So congratulations Hillary, for what it’s worth.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Obama is discovering what all new presidents have-that sometimes winning is the easy part.

Four years ago Obama was an Illinois state senator who was on his way to the U.S. Senate. Next month, he will become one of only a handful of modern presidents who has not endured a similar bubble as a governor or top U.S. official before taking office.

Already, Obama no longer gets out for an impromptu lunch or a haircut. The barber he’s gone to for 15 years now comes to him, and he mostly orders out. Soon Obama likely will be forced to give up the BlackBerry he often kept attached to his hip during the campaign.

“There’s still some things we’re not adjusted to,” Obama said in a “60 Minutes” interview after the election. “You know, the small routines of life that keep you connected, I think some of those are being lost.”

Bill Clinton grew frustrated that he couldn’t go out any time he wanted, and once went Christmas shopping without the pool. After he became president, George W. Bush stopped sending e-mails to his daughters because he didn’t want the personal notes to become public one day.

“It’s just hard to know that there’s somebody with you all the time,” said Steve Elmendorf, who was deputy campaign manager for John Kerry in 2004. “Being able to get up and go biking or go for a walk, or hold hands with your wife — everything you do is not just under the scrutiny of the press or the pool.”
....

It seems the narrower the gap between transition and reality gets, the more private Obama has tried to become.

“You can see how he chafes at it,” Elmendorf said. “It’s hard for people who like to do outdoors things. It’s also hard for people with young kids. … You decide at 9 in the morning, I’m not going out anymore, then at 2 p.m. you decide, ‘Hey let’s get some ice cream.’”

“Normal people can do that. The president or president-elect can’t do that,” he said.

Welcome to the next four years, Mr. President…

Friday, December 19, 2008

It’s pretty much a fait accompli at this point:

Democrat Al Franken has edged ahead of Republican incumbent Norm Coleman for the first time in Minnesota’s long-running U.S. Senate recount.

Franken opened up a lead as a state Canvassing Board made its way through hundreds of ballots challenged in the race.

Franken gained his advantage as the board weighed challenges by the Coleman campaign. But as many as 5,000 withdrawn challenges from both campaigns won’t be awarded until Monday, and the lead could change again.

The board has also rejected a request by Coleman to exclude some ballots his campaign had argued were duplicates.

Meanwhile, there is uncertainty over a potential pool of 1,600 incorrectly rejected absentee ballots, which the Supreme Court said Thursday could be added to the count if the campaigns and election officials can agree on a plan for doing that.

Words can not express how utterly disgusted I am with my former state.  Al Franken is laughably unqualified to be a comedian, least of all one of 100 most powerful men in the world.  Prepare for a six-year highlight reel of gaffes and idiocy.  Minnesota, you saw this coming.  Don’t blame us when we’re slapping our heads about your state.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Joe the Plumber apparently wasn’t a big fan of Maverick.

Joe Wurzelbacher lashed out Tuesday at former GOP presidential nominee John McCain, the man who made Wurzelbacher famous as “Joe the Plumber.”

Wurzelbacher told conservative radio host Glenn Beck that he felt “dirty” after “being on the campaign trail and seeing some of the things that take place.”

Recalling a conversation he had with McCain about the $700 billion financial industry bailout in September, Wurzelbacher said: “When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans did not want that to happen.”

“I asked him some pretty direct questions,” he continued. “Some of the answers you guys are gonna receive — they appalled me, absolutely. I was angry. In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.”

Asked why he didn’t leave McCain’s campaign if he was “appalled” by the candidate, Wurzelbacher said, “honestly, because the thought of Barack Obama as president scares me even more.”

This is your party’s base. This is your party’s base on wingnuttery. Any questions?

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Yippee:

Nine-term Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, who has been battling scandals and a federal indictment for the past three years, appears to have lost his bid for re-election.

In the 2nd Congressional district, with 79 percent of precincts reporting, Republican challenger Anh “Joseph” Cao—an attorney and community organizer—had 52.9 percent of the vote to Jefferson’s 43.2 percent.

Stevens gone, now Jefferson.  Sometimes I almost think the voters are paying attention.

Almost.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Oh for Christ’s sake:

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some opponents of Obama’s election.

The meeting of justices will coincide with a vigil by the filer’s supporters in Washington on the steps of the nation’s highest court.

The suit originally sought to stay the election, and was filed on behalf of Leo Donofrio against New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells.

Legal experts say the appeal has little chance of succeeding, despite appearing on the court’s schedule. Legal records show it is only the tip of an iceberg of nationwide efforts seeking to derail Obama’s election over accusations that he either wasn’t born a U.S. citizen or that he later renounced his citizenship in Indonesia.

The Obama campaign has maintained that he was born in Hawaii, has an authentic birth certificate, and is a “natural-born” U.S. citizen. Hawaiian officials agree.

For the record, let’s take a look at the luminaries who have been involved in this BS:

Among those filing lawsuits is Alan Keyes, who lost to Obama in the 2004 Illinois Senate race. Keyes’ suit seeks to halt certification of votes in California. Another suit by a Kentucky man seeks to have a federal judge review Obama’s original birth certificate, which Hawaiian officials say is locked in a state vault.

Other suits have been filed by Andy Martin, whose case was dismissed in Hawaii, and by an Ohio man whose case also was dismissed. Five more suits, all later dismissed, were filed in Hawaii by a person who is currently suing the “Peoples Association of Human, Animals Conceived God/s and Religions, John McCain (and) USA Govt.” The plaintiff previously sought to sue Wikipedia and “All News Media.”

The most famous case questioning Obama’s citizenship was filed in Pennsylvania in August on behalf of Philip J. Berg and sought to enjoin the Democratic National Committee from nominating Obama. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept the case. Earlier, a federal judge rejected it for “lack of standing” — ruling that Berg had no legal right to sue. In cases like this, judges sometimes believe the matter is best left to political institutions, such as the Electoral College or Congress, said legal scholar Eugene Volokh of the University of California at Los Angeles.

That’s Philip Berg the 9-11 truther, in league with Alan “I Still Can’t Believe I’m Not President!” Keyes. These are the “Voices of Truth.” As Ed Morrisey says:

None of it — absolutely none — has any real, solid evidence showing that Obama was born anywhere else than Hawaii apart from sheer speculation and hearsay, and even less evidence that Obama’s stepfather renounced Obama’s birthright citizenship, which he didn’t have the power to do anyway.  It’s a conspiracy theory spun by conspiracy theorists (Philip Berg is a 9/11 truther) who use their normal thresholds of evidence for this meme.

I can remember a time when only left-wing conspiracy theorists said this kind of stuff about who the real winner of a Presidential election was. I used to scoff at the notion that our side could sink to their level. Surely, I thought, conservatives on the whole were too smart, too reasonable to go down the same road.

Remember those times?

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

At least some people get it:

No, Virginia, there isn’t a smoke filled room somewhere where a bunch of Ivy League, Wall Street, K Street elitists conspired to deprive the Republican Party of a victory in the last two elections. We lost because nobody in their right mind would trust us to run a government. That we did as well as we did is a tribute to the fact that they don’t trust the Democrats much either.

***

In seven years we demonstrated to the American people that we really didn’t mean what we’d said for all those years; we weren’t against spending, we were against Democrat spending. We weren’t against big government, we just wanted it big in the places we like.

So, no, despite what Limbaugh and Hannity would have you believe, it wasn’t all the sinister librul media’s fault. Or, as John Cole notes:

The Republicans have lost the last two elections not because of media bias, but because they are being blamed for the current mess we are in, and they are being blamed for good reason. Until 2006 they controlled Congress and the White House, right now they control the White House. Listening to Republicans trying to blame their loss on media bias is like listening to OJ Simpson trying to blame his conviction on racism.
....

Republicans lost because they were in charge of the country for the better part of the last decade, and their governance has been an unmitigated disaster. This is not rocket science. You can argue that Democrats should share some of the blame for some of the policies, and you would not get any disagreement from me, but that does not change the fact that the Republicans were in charge, and blew it.

And now we are in the era of undivided government. Maybe guys like Jim DeMint should think about why before they open their mouths again.

Those 171 votes that turned up for Franken are looking more and more suspicious:

One possible explanation, offered by the Maplewood City Clerk, was that the automark scanner malfunctioned during the day and a replacement scanner was brought to the precinct.  The ballots that were already cast may not have been re-scanned.  But when a scanner malfunctions, it is recorded on the precinct Polling Place Incident Log.  Here is the log from Maplewood P-6, a malfunction is not listed.

How easy is it to stuff a ballot box in Ramsey County?  This photo of Maplewood precincts waiting to be counted shows that the side holes are completely exposed, even though the boxes have been sealed.

And where are blank ballots stored?  In the Ramsey County Election Office warehouse.  In these photos, you can see that piles of unused ballots, waiting to be shredded, are sitting in front of and on top of “sealed” precinct boxes.

Look at the pictures.  I’m trying not to be partisan here and let my distaste for Al Franken cloud my judgement.  But can anyone honestly look at this situation and say that we should accept these ballots?

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Holy crap.  It looks like Saxby Chambliss won Georgia by almost 20 points—far better than any poll predicted.  Was this buyer’s remorse for having elected so many Democrats?  The positive influence of Sarah Palin?  The negative influence of Obama not campaigning for Jim Martin?  Whatever it was, it denies the Democrats a 60-seat majority in the Senate.  This also lowers the likelihood that they will go to the Senate on Minnesota (I mistyped in my post below—the Democrats would take the Minnesota race to the Senate only if Chambliss lost).

However, all is not well yet.  2010 is just around the corner:

For a Democratic Party aiming for 60 seats-plus, things are heading in the right direction: [Florida Senator Mel] Martinez is the second GOP senator to step aside for the 2010 cycle, joining Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.).

Brownback’s seat appears to be less likely to switch from red to blue, but Democrats have been closely contesting races in other deeply red states. They could make the Kansas race instantly competitive with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), who remains a term-limited free agent without an appointment, thus far, to the Obama administration.

The GOP also has to deal with more seats to defend (19) than Democrats (16) and a less appealing target list.

When the 111th Congress begins, four of the five oldest GOP members will be facing reelection. Most of them have already insisted they are running, but questions remain about some of them.

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), who is 77, has said he will run and needs $10 million to win in 2010, but he had banked a miniscule $175,000 for the race as of Sept. 30.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), at 78, has been adamant that he will run, but he appears set for an arduous primary and general election, both of which he already faced in 2004.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who is 74, has said he plans to seek reelection, but that was the same thing Martinez was saying as late as two weeks ago.

The GOP also could have to deal with otherwise safe seats held by 75-year-old Sens. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), should they retire.

Here’s a map of the seats up for grabs.  Unless Obama becomes very unpopular, he may get his 60 seats yet—which is why Minnesota remains important.  I see very few seats the Republicans could pick up in 2010.  Maybe Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota or Colorado—and even then only if the incumbent retires.

(Side question: do Democrats ever retire?  I mean, what is Robert Byrd, like 197?  I guess it makes sense for them.  What would Democratic politicians do if they weren’t hectoring the rest of us and taking our lunch money?)

In the meantime, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hamshire, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri and even Arizona could be in play.  If Obama turns the economy around, we could be looking at a Constitutional Amendment level majority in the Senate.

Ah, the Permanent Majority.  Karl Rove really was such a genius.

Oh, come on:

Democrat Al Franken has gained 37 votes on Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate recount, after Ramsey County found 171 ballots that weren’t counted on election night.

Ramsey County elections chief Joe Mansky says the ballots were in a machine that broke down early on Election Day in Maplewood’s 6th precinct.

“The election judges apparently didn’t run some ballots through the ballot counter after their ballot counter had gone down during the day. So, we had apparently more ballots in the box than we had on the tape,” said Mansky.

Mansky says the ballots were never lost, just not counted the first time through. He says they have been secure all along.

Franken gained 91 votes from the crop of ballots, and Coleman gained 54.

Fritz Knaak, an attorney for Coleman, says the campaign sent a lawyer to look into the situation. He says they’ll likely accept Mansky’s explanation, as long as a tabulation of the number of people who voted turns out to be 171 more than the number of votes counted. The deadline for local officials to complete their recount is Friday.

538 estimates the race is essentially a dead heat.  If Saxby Chambliss holds onto this Georgia seat, expect the Democrats to take this all the way to the Senate.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Right now, Norm Coleman is holding a narrow lead in the Minnesota Senate recount.  So what will the Democrats do?  Guess.

Minnesota’s U.S. Senate showdown is veering down a path toward the courts and possibly the Senate itself after a panel’s ruling on rejected absentee ballots dealt a blow to Democrat Al Franken’s chances.

For the first time, his campaign on Wednesday openly discussed mounting challenges after the hand recount involving Franken and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman concludes. That includes the possibility of drawing the Senate into the fracas.

The state Canvassing Board denied Franken’s request to factor absentee ballots rejected by poll workers into the recount. He sought to overturn the exclusions in cases where ballots were invalidated over signature problems or other voter errors. Coleman’s campaign maintained the board lacked power to revisit those ballots.

Franken entered the recount trailing Coleman by 215 votes out of 2.9 million ballots. As of Wednesday night, Coleman was up 292 votes, including results from Nov. 4 and recounted ones.

All told, 86 percent of the ballots have been recounted. However, about 4,740 ballots have been challenged by the two campaigns that could fall to the canvassing board to rule on.

It’s the 2004 Washington governor’s race all over again—only this time the US Senate is threatening to step in:

The board’s decision drew a response from the Senate’s top Democrat, Majority Leader Harry Reid, who called it a “cause for great concern.”

“As the process moves forward, Minnesota authorities must ensure that no voter is disenfranchised,” Reid said in a statement. “A citizen’s right to have his or her vote counted is fundamental in our democracy.”

The Senate has in rare cases inserted itself into elections, including a 1996 Louisiana race and a 1974 New Hampshire contest. The body has the power to determine its members’ qualifications.

It will be interesting to watch all the Democrats who screamed about the SCOTUS selecting the President praise the Senate if they select Minnesota’s representation.