Paul Demko

Has T-Paw lost his luster on the national political scene?

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza has assembled a list of 10 Republicans across the country who will be influential in trying to resurrect the party over the next four years. Conspicuously missing from the mix? Gov. Tim Pawlenty. While Cillizza explains his reasoning for other notables left off the list (Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee), [...]

WSJ: Franken campaign trying to ’steal’ election

When the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal last weighed in on Minnesota’s still-undecided Senate race, it was frothing about supposedly nefarious behavior by local election officials that was threatening the integrity of the process. Yesterday the lead recount attorney for Al Franken’s campaign, Marc Elias, wrote in to correct the record.
Now the WSJ [...]

Minnesota employers cut 7,500 jobs last month

Minnesota’s unemployment rate edged up to 6.0 percent last month, with employers slashing 7,500 jobs, according to new figures from the Department of Employment and Economic Development. In September the state’s unemployment rate was at 5.9 percent, with job losses of 2,300.
There were 16,400 fewer jobs available last month than at the same point in [...]

Ellison denied progressive leadership post

Rep. Keith Ellison has fallen short in his bid to lead the Congressional Progressive Caucus. According to PolitickerAZ, the 80-member body will instead be headed by Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva and California Rep. Lynn Woolsey. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a former co-chair of the caucus.
(H/T: BrauBlog)

U.S. Senate contest: The recount commences

The manual recount of the U.S. Senate race is well under way in Ramsey County. Eight teams of inspectors are scrutinizing ballots at the county’s election offices while authorized representatives of the two campaigns hover nearby. It’s just one of roughly 110 locations across the state where ballots will be manually inspected over the next two weeks to determine the winner of the closest senate race in Minnesota history.

U.S. Senate recount: It’s a legal matter, baby

The fight over the closest Senate contest in Minnesota history turned to the Ramsey County Courthouse this morning. In a hearing before Judge Dale Lindman, Al Franken’s campaign argued that Ramsey County election officials should be required to turn over information about rejected absentee ballots. Attorney David Lillehaug made the case that the names of all voters who had their ballots invalidated, along with the reason for that decision, should be provided. “That information is critical to the plaintiff,” he stated

U.S. Senate recount: The politics of perception

We won. We won. We won. If Norm Coleman’s campaign repeats this mantra often enough, perhaps it will actually come true. At least that seems to be the reasoning of the Senator’s political camp. “We think we’re three for three right now,” Fritz Knaak, the lead attorney for the Republican, told reporters just moments after a statewide canvassing board officially initiated a recount in the closest U.S. Senate race in Minnesota history. “He’s got more votes than the other side. That’s how it works in our system.”

U.S. Senate recount: The battle over rejected absentee ballots

What will happen to absentee ballots that were rejected as invalid by local election officials? That’s the question currently roiling the U.S. Senate contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken as a state-mandated manual recount gets underway this week.

Pawlenty on Senate recount: no evidence of wrongdoing

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty gave his usual spiel about Sam’s Club Republicans and widening the GOP base. But T-Paw also touched on the looming U.S. Senate recount in Minnesota. Despite widespread frothing in conservative circles over the last two weeks, Pawlenty acknowledged that there’s zero evidence of ballot shenanigans.
“We have to [...]

Iowa GOP recruiting Coleman/Franken recount volunteers

The Republican Party of Iowa is helping recruit volunteers to monitor Minnesota’s looming senate recount on behalf of Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign. “Vounteers urgently needed!” reads the heading on an email sent out by the state party yesterday. The Iowa GOP is seeking two-week commitments from individuals beginning on Monday.
The recount is slated to start [...]