20
Nov
2008
Challenged Ballots: You Decide
The Senate race in Minnesota STILL isn’t decided!
The race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat and former comedian Al Franken was too close to call after the votes were counted. In fact, after over 2 MILLION votes were counted, the difference was less than 300 votes.
LESS THAN 300 VOTES!!!
(Don’t ever let anyone EVER tell you that their vote doesn’t count)
The state of Minnesota is currently recounting the votes. While this seems simple, it really isn’t at all. Sometimes its hard to tell EXACTLY what the voters intent is!
Can you tell who the voter intended to vote for?
Challenged ballots: You be the judge – Minnesota Public Radio puts together a sample of challenged ballots like this one.
Check it out!
What do you think?
13
Nov
2008
Filibuster: The Next Great American Sandwich
Filibuster might be a sandwich, but more likely its a ‘stalling tactic’ used by the minority party in the Senate (currently the Republicans) to prevent legislation from passing through the Senate.
The big number is 60
With 60 votes you can invoke cloture – and end a filibuster. Because of the filibuster 60 votes (rather than a simple majority) are needed in the Senate in order to get any controversial legislation passed.
If you don’t have 60 votes and your legislation is controversial – you might as well go home.
The filibuster is not mentioned in the United States Constitution, but it is a long running tradition in the Senate. It gives the minority party a significant source of power, despite its minority status. The question is, however, should the minority party be able to wield this kind of power? More people did, in fact, vote for the other party.
Currently, the Democrats (along with the two Independents who caucus with them) have 57 58 votes with races in Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota still undecided after November 4th. This COULD lead to 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans. It’s doubtful that the Democrats will be this fortunate, however.
Update: Alaska’s seat has been called for the Democrat, Mark Begich. He upset incumbent Republican Ted Stevens
Even though the Democrats may not get 60 seats needed for a supermajority – the Republicans still won’t filibuster quite like they (and Democrats) used to.
Here’s an article that argues why!
Let’s count the actual votes on the Republican side of the aisle, asking which senators would have both the inclination and the will to join a filibuster. Every issue calls forth different levels of resistance, of course, but in each instance the opposition would need at least 41 total. In the very worst case, should the Republicans pick up all the remaining seats, they will begin with [44].
This means that the Democrats only have to pull three Republicans away from their party in order to prevent a filibuster. Only three. In a body where loyalty is rewarded, but not demanded, and in a political climate leaning left, this may not be very difficult.
In fact, the Democrats haven’t had 60 votes in the Senate since 1977 and the Republicans (if I do my math correctly) haven’t had a filibuster proof majority since 1923. Back then Robert Byrd (D-WV) was only five years old!
Does the Democratic supermajority concern you? After January 20th, the Democrats will control the White House and both Houses of Congress. Is it possible that this is just simply too much power for one party to handle?
Update: Politico mulls the idea of a Democratic supermajority
4
Sep
2008
Palin’s Speech
Governor Sarah Palin is the first woman to be named the running mate for the Republican party!
Wednesday night Gov. Palin spoke at the Republican Convention in Minnesota, and gave a pretty good speech!
Watch it for your-self! What do you think? (The first two minutes of the video are simply cheering)
14
Jul
2008
Wrestlers, Comedians, and Politicians: Oh My!!!
The race for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat may get really interesting tonight!
Already in the race we have incumbent Norm Coleman – Republican, and comedian/political commentator Al Franken – Democrat. Fraken is already trying to prove to voters that he’s a funny guy on the side, but he’s serious about being Minnesota’s next Senator. Currently, Franken-D is polling about 10 points behind Coleman-R. It usually pretty tough to overcome 10 point deficits (especially when you’re running against an incumbent).
Now Minnesota has elected stranger characters to public office before. In 1998 Minnesota elected former wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura as Governor. He served only one four year term – but managed to cause a lot of controversy while he was in office!
Tonight, things will get interesting. Ventura plans to announce whether he’ll run for Senate (as an independent) or not on Larry King Live. No one goes on a major talk show to announce they’re NOT running for office. He’ll announce tonight.
So we’ll have a former wrestler, a former comedian, and a politician.
Unfortunately for Al Franken, this is a death blow for his chances for election.
Fortunately for us non-Minnesotans, this will provide interesting political fodder!
Update: Jesse Ventura didn’t announce on Larry King. Those professional wrestlers sure are sneaky! Looks like the race won’t be quite as interesting as I thought.
Update: Rasmussen’s July 14th poll has Franken leading Coleman 44% to 42%