# U.S. Senate Elections Thread (and House too, if you want) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198 "2008-11-05T04:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/141 "2008-12-08T18:36:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can’t say I’m disappointed about Cao. Sometimes, keeping your own party clean means you have to give the other guys a chance for a while. Bingo. We can afford one fewer Dem vote in the House a lot more easily than we can afford crooks like Jefferson damaging the party’s reputation. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/142 "2008-12-08T20:39:55Z")
Phew! How long since there was a Congressional election with this many recounts and runoffs and nailbiters?! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/143 "2008-12-08T22:09:01Z")
I dunno, but the latest from Minnesota is that [they’ve given up the search](http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/35728824.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUec7PaP3E77K_0c::D3aDhUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU) for the envelope with the missing 133 ballots. The linked article quotes a city spokesman as saying that the state Canvassing Boardbwould decide whether the 133 will be officially counted. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/144 "2008-12-08T22:12:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Phew! How long since there was a Congressional election with this many recounts and runoffs and nailbiters?! And still over a week until the Canvassing Board meets in Minnesota to resolve however many challenges the two campaigns haven’t yet withdrawn by then (the count’s down to [~5000](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/12/franken_retracts_hundreds_more.php) now), plus whether or not to accept the election-night count of the missing 133 ballots. When I started this thread on Election Night, I never dreamed there’d be reason to keep it active for the next six weeks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/145 "2008-12-16T18:06:06Z")
The Star-Trib decided to [let its readers weigh in](http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36207459.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DU) on all of the (initially) challenged ballots. Here’s what they found: > [@](#): > > Only 200 of the 6,500 ballots failed to draw a consensus from at least 75 percent of reviewers. Among the others, reviewers decided slightly more in favor of Franken. > > According to the analysis, if all of the ballots on which challenges have been withdrawn were awarded to candidates as Ballot Challenge readers awarded them, Franken would hold a 361-vote lead heading into today’s Canvassing Board meeting. The Board will begin resolving some 2,260 remaining challenges at noon, with Franken’s challenges outnumbering Coleman’s by 224. Presumably the no-longer-challenged ballots will be awarded as the local election boards awarded them: since their decisions are no longer challenged, there’s no need for the Canvassing Board to make the call. But presumably those ~4,400 ballots are pretty straightforward calls, so the Star-Trib readers and the local boards probably didn’t differ very often. And a 361-vote lead would be pretty hard to overcome without a pretty hefty edge either among the 2,260 still-challenged ballots, or among the wrongly excluded absentee ballots. It’s starting to look quite good for Franken. ---
**Author:** ![haymarketmartyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/35a633/32.png) [@haymarketmartyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haymarketmartyr)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/146 "2008-12-16T18:18:14Z")
And if Franken wins I can hear the self righteous gnashing of conservative teeth all over America. Rush Limbaugh will have enough to keep him business right through inauguration day when he can signal the death knell of America. RT Firefly - I love your screen name … and the movie too ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/147 "2008-12-16T21:52:56Z")
> [@haymarketmartyr](#): > > RT Firefly - I love your screen name … and the movie too Thanks! _The last man nearly ruined this place he didn’t know what to do with it If you think this country’s bad off now, just wait 'til I get through with it_ -Rufus T. Firefly Of course, GWB has infused new meaning into that quatrain. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/148 "2008-12-18T17:56:02Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > There are only two House races that are still in any way up in the air: LA-04, where Fleming, the Republican, ended the day last night with a 356-vote lead over Carmouche, and VA-05, where Perriello has led Goode by 745 for the past three or four weeks. Apparently there may still be some provisional ballots to count in LA-04, and I have no idea what’s still unresolved in VA-05. > > The current tally is that the Dems control 256 seats and the GOP 177, so if Fleming and Perriello maintain their leads, the final tally would be 257-178. Carmouche conceded a week or two ago, and Goode conceded yesterday, after a recount netted him a gain of 18 votes from his original deficit of 745. So Franken v. Coleman is now the only undecided 2008 Congressional race. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198/149 "2008-12-18T22:06:07Z")
[TPM thinks Franken’s gonna win](http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/franken_the_more_likely_winner.php). Even though the ‘Lizard People’ ballot has been ruled as not counting for Franken. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-senate-elections-thread-and-house-too-if-you-want/471198.md?page=7)