A Minnesota Rouser

Since the polls closed in the Land of 10,000 lakes (and millions of suffering Viking fans) the distance between Norm Coleman and Al Franken has gone from 725 to 590 to 336 to 236 and the recount has not even started yet. Yet Norm Coleman desires the whole thing to be over calling on Franken to not ask for the votes to be reviewed.

At this rate, Franken may be ahead before the recount starts.

Those results must be certified as official by Nov. 18, he said, so county auditors are "really furiously working right now to make sure everything's completely accurate."

Minnesota, uses optical scanners to read ballots with ovals filled in with black pen. This, of course, is similar to the standardized tests we all took in the past -- except the commie No. 2 lead pencils are out!

...on average, about two of every 1,000 ballots are not counted by the scanners for various reasons, which could add 6,000 ballots in the Senate race -- more than enough to provide a decisive result.

You've got a 50-50 shot at saying Senator Franken in January.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]