MN-GOV

Pawlenty Regrets Not Seeking Reelection

David Taintor | December 17, 2010, 2:21PM

Tim Pawlenty

Outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who many see as a potential 2012 presidential candidate, is already nostalgic for the office he's about to leave.

He told the Duluth News Tribune editorial board that now that Republicans control the Minnesota Legislature, he regrets not seeking reelection.

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MN-GOV

Republican Tom Emmer (Finally) Concedes MN-GOV Race

Eric Kleefeld | December 8, 2010, 12:14PM

Gov.-elect Mark Dayton (D-MN) and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer

The Minnesota gubernatorial recount has now come to an end, with Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer conceding defeat to Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton -- bringing this story to a much quicker end than the long and drawn out Senate race from 2008, which lasted for eight months of recounts and litigation with a much, much closer margin.

Emmer appeared with his family on his front porch, and addressed reporters. "Well, Minnesotans made their choice, by however thin a margin, and we respect that choice," said Emmer. "Now is the time for all of us to come together and do what is best for Minnesota."

Going into the recount, Dayton led by 8,770 votes, or 0.42%. While this was within the 0.5% needed to trigger a statewide recount, many observers doubted from the start that Emmer could have pulled ahead -- including Fritz Knaak, a former lawyer for Norm Coleman. By comparison, the 2008 Senate recount and litigation resulted in a net change in the margins of only a few hundred votes. However, a possible drawn-out legal contest could have resulted in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty staying in office in the interim, with the opportunity to work with a newly elected Republican legislature.

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MN-GOV

Tom Emmer Expected To Concede MN-GOV Race Today

Eric Kleefeld | December 8, 2010, 9:23AM

MN Gov candidate Tom Emmer (R)

The Minnesota gubernatorial race is expected to come to an end today, five weeks plus one day after Election Day, with Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer reportedly to concede defeat to Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton.

The news was first reported by KSTP, the local ABC affiliate in the Twin Cities area, and has also been confirmed by the Star Tribune. Emmer has an announcement scheduled for 10:30 a.m. CT. This election follows the disputed Minnesota Senate race from the 2008 cycle, which lasted for eight months of counting and litigation -- but this current race always seemed likely to take much less time, because even its close margin of about 9,000 votes was far wider than the Senate race that came down to just a couple hundred votes.

Going into the recount, Dayton led by 8,770 votes, or 0.42%. While this was within the 0.5% needed to trigger a statewide recount, many observers doubted from the start that Emmer could have pulled ahead -- including Fritz Knaak, a former lawyer for Norm Coleman. By comparison, the 2008 Senate recount and litigation resulted in a net change in the margins of only a few hundred votes. However, a possible drawn-out legal contest could have resulted in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty staying in office in the interim, with the opportunity to work with a newly elected Republican legislature.

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MN-GOV

Tom Emmer Loses Court Fight On Key Argument In MN-GOV Recount

Eric Kleefeld | December 7, 2010, 5:46PM

MN-GOV candidate Tom Emmer (R)

The Minnesota Supreme Court just handed down its full opinion on a key issue that Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer had been trying to fight on during the current recount -- and which he might have continued to fight in a post-recount lawsuit. And as the opinion shows, they appear to have done nothing less than shoot him down entirely.

Emmer has tried to make an issue of cases where precincts have more votes than the total number of people who signed in on the register. But, Emmer didn't just lose the argument in the courts -- he lost it big, and is running out of legal avenues by which his campaign could even try to contest the election once the recount is over.

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MN-GOV

Emmer Drops Almost All Ballot Challenges In MN-GOV Recount

Eric Kleefeld | December 7, 2010, 4:52PM

Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer (R)

Republican nominee Tom Emmer has now withdrawn almost all of his campaign's challenges of ballots in Minnesota's gubernatorial recount.

As the Star Tribune reports, Emmer had about 650 challenges remaining, going into today. By today's deadline of noon Central Time, his campaign had cut that down to a mere 131 challenges. The board will meet tomorrow to adjudicate the remaining challenges from Emmer, as well the challenges from Democratic nominee Mark Dayton.

This follows his campaign's actions over last weekend, when they withdrew over 2,500 challenges in heavily Democratic Hennepin County (Minneapolis), which the local officials at the counting tables had deemed to be frivolous.

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MN-GOV

PPP Poll: Minnesotans Say Dayton Won Gov Race, Emmer Should Concede

Eric Kleefeld | December 7, 2010, 10:52AM

MN-GOV candidates Tom Emmer (R) and Mark Dayton (D)

A new Public Policy Polling (D) survey of Minnesota finds that Minnesotans far and wide say that Democrat Mark Dayton was the winner of the gubernatorial race -- he leads by about 9,000 votes -- and that Republican nominee Tom Emmer should concede.

Still, it looks like Republicans could be gearing up to legally contest the gubernatorial race at the conclusion of the recount process.

The poll asked: "Do you think the rightful winner of the Governor's race was Mark Dayton or Tom Emmer?" The answer was Dayton 68%, Emmer 21%. Democrats say it was Dayton by 95%-3%, independents say Dayton by 72%-13%, and Republicans only say Emmer by a plurality of 46%-37%

The next question: "Do you think Tom Emmer should concede the Governor's race or not?" The answer here was 68% yes, 22% no -- nearly identical to the previous number on who the rightful winner is, with internal numbers that closely match it given the margins of error.

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MN-GOV

Tom Emmer: 'We're Not Going Away Regardless Of What Happens' In MN-GOV Recount

Eric Kleefeld | December 6, 2010, 9:50AM

MN-GOV candidate Tom Emmer (R)

Some key developments took place over the weekend in the Minnesota gubernatorial recount, with Republican nominee Tom Emmer's withdrawing almost all of its ballot-challenges that were deemed to be frivolous by the local officials at the counting table. But on the other hand, even though he is mathematically guaranteed to lose the recount, he also says he's not going away.

As the Star Tribune reports, the Emmer campaign had challenged 2,604 ballots in heavily Democratic Hennepin County (Minneapolis), with almost all the challenges being declared frivolous. At Friday's State Canvassing Board Meeting, Emmer lead attorney Eric Magnuson (a former state Chief Justice who previously sat on the board in the 2008 Senate recount between Al Franken and Norm Coleman) promised to bring the number down.

Then on Saturday, out of 2,604 challenges, the Emmer campaign reviewed the ballots and brought the number down to...24. Magnuson said that the large number of withdrawals "doesn't mean I agreed they were frivolous ... but I was not going to take them before the Canvassing Board."

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MN-GOV

Minnesota State Canvassing Board Debates The Importance Of Being Frivolous

Eric Kleefeld | December 3, 2010, 6:24PM

MN-GOV candidates Tom Emmer (R) and Mark Dayton (D)

The Minnesota State Canvassing Board just had a contentious two-hour meeting, in their effort to oversee the state gubernatorial recount, in which they tangled with Republican nominee Tom Emmer's lead litigator Eric Magnuson -- a former state Chief Justice who served on the board itself during the 2008 Senate recount. And in a display that would make Oscar Wilde proud, the board spent its meeting at lengthy discourse on the subject of frivolity.

At issue were the very large number of challenges that Emmer campaign observers have made against the local officials' decisions on how to count ballots -- of which the vast majority, over 2,500 of them, have been deemed frivolous by the local officials and counted anyway, under the board's rules.

After much back and forth, the board came to realize that they had to dot every "i" and cross every "t," and laid out a new procedure for the next week -- copies of all challenges deemed frivolous will be provided to the Emmer campaign, with Magnuson promising to seriously cut down the list by the middle of next week, and the board to see the list on Friday. But, Magnuson said, there would still be ballots that they think should get a look.

(As Justice David Stras made clear, the board is not promising to actually look at all such ballots -- just that Team Emmer must have access to them and the chance to review the list.)

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MN-GOV

Emmer Digs In: MN-GOV Recount 'Merely A Step In The Process'

Eric Kleefeld | December 3, 2010, 12:37PM

MN Gov candidate Tom Emmer (R)

Minnesota Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer, who entered the state recount trailing Democrat Mark Dayton by 8,770 votes, just held a press conference and admitted that the recount itself would not change the result. Instead, he made a lot of hay over a different issue, attacking the possibility of precincts that have more ballots cast than people who properly signed the registers.

The takeaway here is that the Emmer campaign could potentially file an election contest -- a lawsuit disputing the election result -- on the basis of alleged voter fraud. A possible drawn-out legal contest could result in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty staying in office in the interim, with the opportunity to work with a newly elected Republican legislature.

"This egregious disregard for election laws calls into question the integrity of one vote per person," Emmer said, "and is, I believe, an assault on the very principles of the American voting system, diluting every legally cast vote. Again, that's when you have more ballots, than supposedly you have people that voted in the election."

He also added: "Remember the recount is merely a step in the process that ensures that there are no other irregularities that must be accounted for."

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MN-GOV

Dayton Withdraws His 42 Frivolous Ballot Challenges -- Attacks Emmer's 2,500

Eric Kleefeld | December 2, 2010, 6:49PM

MN-GOV candidates Tom Emmer (R) and Mark Dayton (D)

In another fun development in the Minnesota gubernatorial recount, the campaign of Democratic nominee Mark Dayton has written a letter to the State Canvassing Board withdrawing all of its ballot-challenges that have been declared frivolous by local officials -- and savaging the campaign of Republican nominee Tom Emmer for issuing a lot more of such challenges than they have.

Essentially, Team Dayton appears to be letting Team Emmer make themselves look bad, and could be trying to ingratiate their own side with the board ahead of a meeting on Friday, which was scheduled ahead of time just to examine this very issue.

"The 2010 Gubernatorial Recount to date has been disrupted by a striking pattern of frivolous challenges to ballots validly cast by lawful Minnesotan voters, with clear expression of voter intent and devoid of any identifying marks," writes Dayton co-lead counsel Marc Elias (who previously served as Dem Sen. Al Franken's lead attorney in the 2008 Senate recount). "I urge this Board to put an end to this unfortunate effort to disenfranchise Minnesota voters."

According to the letter, Team Dayton had only lodged 42 frivolous challenges -- that's right, my fellow fans of absurdist comedy, 42 -- compared to 2,544 from Team Emmer as of the close of business on Wednesday.

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MN-GOV

Mark Dayton To Raise Money With Bill Clinton, George Soros

Eric Kleefeld | December 2, 2010, 2:54PM

Former President Bill Clinton, gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton (D-MN)

This should just tickle certain right-wingers pink.

As Minnesota Public Radio reports, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mark Dayton has a very special fundraiser coming up, to help pay for his efforts in the state recount. The headliner at the December 13th event will be none other than former President Bill Clinton.

But that's not all. It will also be held in New York, at the home of George Soros.

Going into the recount, Dayton led Republican nominee Tom Emmer by 8,770 votes, or 0.42%. While this is within the 0.5% needed to trigger a statewide recount, many observers have doubted that Emmer could pull ahead, as Dayton's lead is probably too wide to be reversed barring any surprising discoveries in the hand count. However, a possible drawn-out legal contest could potentially result in Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty staying in office in the interim, with the opportunity to work with a newly elected Republican legislature.

MN-GOV

Emmer Camp Threatens To Sue County -- For Wanting To Add More Counting Tables

Eric Kleefeld | December 2, 2010, 12:19PM

MN-GOV candidate Tom Emmer (R)

The campaign of Minnesota Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer is continuing to challenge a whole lot of ballots in the state recount -- and a whole lot of those challenges are being declared frivolous by local officials, making for some very interesting squabbles.

As the Star Tribune reports, in Hennepin County (Minneapolis) alone, Team Emmer has made about 1,600 challenges that have been declared frivolous by local officials. Election manager Rachel Smith made an attempt to speed things up -- which she quickly abandoned, after Emmer attorney Tony Trimble attempted to sue:

To speed things up on Wednesday, Smith asked to add three or four counting tables to the 25 already set up.

Trimble objected, saying if she did so, the campaign would take the county to court. "They can't change the rules," he said.

The state Republican Party also blasted Smith. In a statement, the party said Smith "tried to change the rules in the middle of game to advance the interests of Mark Dayton."

Smith then ditched the idea, saying that it was "not worth the fight."

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MN-GOV

Dayton Camp Claims Lead Increases In MN-GOV Recount, As Team Emmer's Ballot Challenges Mount

Eric Kleefeld | December 1, 2010, 4:46PM

MN-GOV candidates Tom Emmer (R) and Mark Dayton (D)

Here is the latest update on the Minnesota gubernatorial recount, where Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton entered the recount leading Republican state Representative Tom Emmer by 8,770 votes.

(See here for an overview of their methodology, and both the necessary caveats and points in its favor, plus a primer on the issue of how ballots that are challenged by a campaign end up being handled.)

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