Today’s UpTake: Governor-Elect Dayton Appears with Pawlenty

Today, five weeks and two days after the Nov. 2 election, former Democratic Senator Mark Dayton is now officially Governor-Elect Mark Dayton. As such, he’ll appear today at 2:45 p.m. in the Governor’s Reception Room at the State Capitol with Minnesota’s soon-to-be outgoing Governor Tim Pawlenty. As we have this entire election season, we’ll broadcast Dayton and Pawlenty’s news conference live on The UpTake. When he takes office on Jan. 3, Dayton will become Minnesota’s first Democratic governor since his former boss Rudy Perpich 20 years ago.

This evening, The UpTake will also air the Twin Cities Social Media Awards, from 7-9 p.m. at the Rogue Buddha Gallery in Minneapolis. Forty local movers and shakers, including our own Jason Barnett, have been nominated in 2010 for their impact on society through using social media. These are people who are finding new ways to use social media and pushing the limits of the platforms they are using. Tune into The UpTake at 7 p.m.

And if you missed yesterday’s grand finale of the 2010 election season (unless, of course, you’re still following the Alaskan Senatorial race), you can watch the concession speeches, victory speeches, and final lawyerly scuffles on our website. Shortly after Governor Pawlenty weighed in on the race to determine his successor, Republican hopeful Tom Emmer and his family conceded at a mid-morning news conference outside his home in frigid Delano, Minn. Despite the single-digit temperatures, Emmer was gracious and conciliatory, and willing to answer media questions — and even lavished The UpTake with praise. (Emmer joked that he may pursue a job opening with us!) Emmer’s concession opened the door for Mark Dayton, at last, to deliver his humble victory speech at the State Capitol yesterday afternoon to a room full of over 100 journalists and supporters.

Meanwhile, Emmer’s decision to throw in the towel lightened the load on the State Canvassing Board, which officially certified the results of the 2010 gubernatorial election just after midday. Amidst those proceedings, Justice Anderson explained his decision last week to lecture Emmer’s lawyers on the danger of bringing frivolous ballot challenges before the court. His former colleague on the bench, Eric Magnuson, who represented Emmer in this recount, told the press that the recount worked, despite suggestions to the contrary by other Republicans.

Magnuson Says the Recount Worked

At the Minnesota State Canvassing Board meeting yesterday, during which the Board certified the gubernatorial election results, Republican Tom Emmer’s attorney Eric Magnuson said that, by and large, the 2010 election recount worked — despite criticism of the recount voiced by others on Emmer’s team.

Today’s UpTake: Emmer Withdraws Over 2,500 Frivolous Challenges

Minnesota gubernatorial candidates Tom Emmer and Mark Dayton’s legal teams convened at the Hennepin County Government Center Saturday morning to review thousands of frivolous ballot challenges made by the Emmer team during last week’s statewide recount. In their weekend casual attire, top attorneys Eric Magnuson (representing Republican Emmer) and David Lillehaug (representing Democrat Dayton) laughed on occasion when they discovered a write-in vote for Magnuson, and a vote for “Lizard People”, the same “candidate” that caused a firestorm during the 2008 Franken-Coleman recount. Magnuson and other Emmer attorneys ultimately withdrew 2,580 frivolous ballot challenges, leaving only a couple dozen in the state’s most populous and contentious county.

Perhaps the real drama was on Friday, the final day of the statewide hand recount. Though behind by over 9,000 votes, according to the Dayton campaign, a defiant Tom Emmer held a news conference at which he refused to concede and refused to rule out a post-recount lawsuit. Then, at an afternoon State Canvassing Board meeting, current Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson schooled his onetime colleague, former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Magnuson, questioning the latter’s professional integrity for standing by so many frivolous challenges, and producing Magnuson’s “hieroglyphics” from 2008 to show how the current Emmer lawyer’s apparent definition of frivolous contrasted with what he deemed frivolous while on the bench two years ago. The UpTake was there for all of the drama, and when the Canvassing Board reconvenes on Wednesday with the unenviable task of deciding how to proceed, we’ll bring it all to you live.

Over the weekend, we also posted videos of President Obama rallying the troops during a surprise appearance to Afghanistan, then praising the U.S.-South Korea trade deal. Because he was traveling on Air Force One, Vice President Biden delivered Obama’s weekly address. And Senator Al Franken weighed in on the most pressing national political issue of the day: whether to extend the Bush tax cuts. Franken argued against tax cuts for millionaires.

Today’s UpTake: Frivolous Ballots Mount, Canvassing Board Meets

Recount week is just about over, but Hennepin County isn’t out of the woods yet. Minnesota’s most populous county, and home to Minneapolis, still has over 100,000 ballots to count, and this appears to be where Tom Emmer’s team, led by attorney Tony Trimble, are making their stand. Yesterday Trimble gleefully stated that he ultimately expects to see nearly 9,000 votes for Mark Dayton successfully challenged — in other words, enough to overcome the Democrat’s lead IF EACH ONE OF THOSE is thrown out. That’s not likely, given the frivolity of many of the Emmer team’s challenges, which The UpTake has shown during our live coverage this week.

The Minnesota State Canvassing Board will have to decide how to deal with this mess — reminiscent of Norm’s Coleman’s thousands of ballot challenges two years ago —  that the Board sought to avoid by holding discussions last week with attorneys, in particular, former Supreme Court Justice Eric Magnuson, who represents Emmer. The State Canvassing Board will meet at 2 p.m. today in the State Office Building to discuss frivolous ballot challenges and attempt to head off a potential post-recount lawsuit from the Emmer side. Naturally, The UpTake will be there to cover it live.

The cool head in the room yesterday was Mark Dayton, who returned from Washington, D.C., where he met with the Democratic Governors Association (and asked to be called “Mark” and not “governor-elect”). Dayton refused to be presumptuous and said he’d wait for an election certificate from Secretary of State Mark Ritchie before moving into the governor’s mansion. The Dayton team also withdrew its relatively few frivolous battle challenges, and called on Emmer to do the same.

In the midst of the election recount fracas, the state’s November Economic Forecast was released yesterday, and the numbers weren’t pretty. DFL leaders Tom Bakk and Paul Thissen, and GOP leaders Amy Koch and Kurt Zellers, offered their reactions, and then Governor Tim Pawlenty attempted to cast the state’s ugly deficit in a rosy picture, all while throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Democrats.

Speaking of partisanship, one of the most recent victims of America’s political wars, outgoing Congressman Jim Oberstar, held his final hearing in Washington as chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

Today’s UpTake: All Recount Eyes on Hennepin

Is Minnesota’s post-election battle winding down, or is it heating up? Over 70 percent of ballots from the Nov. 2 election have now been recounted, and according to the Dayton campaign, based on votes that have turned for the Democratic-Farm-Labor candidate this week, Mark Dayton’s lead over Republican Tom Emmer now tops 9,000. But Emmer’s team increased their challenging of ballots in Hennepin County yesterday, and Emmer attorney Tony Trimble got into a heated argument with Hennepin County Elections Manager Rachel Smith yesterday over recount procedures and whether Hennepin County could add more tables to finish the counting before next week. On top of that, now GOP chair Tony Sutton has fueled rumors that the Republicans will file a post-recount lawsuit.

The UpTake will cover the recount again today from Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. We’ll also broadcast a host of political stories that you might find more interesting than “watching people watch paint dry”. At 10 a.m. Congressman Jim Oberstar will hold a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. — likely his last as Chairman. Oberstar is expected to make personal remarks as well. Minnesota’s November Economic Forecast is scheduled to be released today at 12:15 p.m. We’ll cover it live, as we will Senate Majority Leader-elect Amy Koch and Speaker of the House Designate Kurt Zeller’s comments on the November budget forecast at 2 p.m. DFL Senate Caucus Leader Tom Bakk and House Caucus Leader Paul Thissen will follow with their own comments. Then at 2:30 p.m. Governor Tim Pawlenty and Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Steve Sviggum will hold a news conference to discuss the economic forecast. You can watch it all on The UpTake.

Last night our roving videographer Craig Stellmacher made it to Powderhorn Park for a “Take Back the Park” rally following a sexual assault and shooting over Thanksgiving weekend. Powderhorn is a cherished park in South Minneapolis and famous for hosting the annual May Day festival. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll also cover a protest at Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office to keep Anh Pham, Tracy Molm and Sarah Martin out of Jail. They were among the peace activists raided by the FBI on Sept. 24 and have since been re-subpoenaed to appear before a Grand Jury investigating “material support of terrorism.” Pham, Molm and Martin face the choice of participating in the witch hunt or going to jail indefinitely for ‘contempt’. Last weekend we also interviewed Joe Iosbaker and Stephanie Weiner, the Chicago activists who were raided by the FBI on the same day.

Today’s UpTake: Frivolous Challenges Mount in Hennepin County

On the third day of the recount my true love gave to me, frivolous challenges in Hennepin County.

As the Minnesota gubernatorial election recount enters its third day, most counties statewide have completed, or are on the verge of completing, their recount duties. All eyes now fall on the more populous Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, where The UpTake is providing a livestream of events all week. Ramsey County (home to St. Paul) has been a model of neighborly tolerance worthy of Lake Wobegon. Only 55 ballots were contested on Monday, and slightly more than that yesterday.

But over in Hennepin County (home to Minneapolis), the ballot challenges are snowballing, and many of those are “frivolous challenges”. Hennepin County Elections Manager Rachel Smith says that the nearly 1,000 “frivolous” challenges made by Republican Tom Emmer’s campaign have been “a bit unnecessary”, and perhaps evoke comparisons to the mountain of “frivolous challenges” made in 2008 by the Norm Coleman campaign. Smith added yesterday afternoon that she overheard Republican recount leaders urging their workers to intentionally challenge more ballots. And now GOP state chair Tony Sutton is hinting at the possibility of a post-recount lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Mark Dayton’s recount director Ken Martin said at an afternoon press conference at the State Capitol that Dayton’s lead over Emmer had increased by 205 votes as of 1:30 p.m. Dayton was en route to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with the Democrat Governors’ Association — presumably to be addressed in the nation’s capital as “Governor-elect Mark Dayton”. Also in Washington today, President Obama met with Republican lawmakers and said at a news conference afterward that there was “broad agreement” that the middle class tax increases scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1 need to be stopped. However, he noted there were “differences on how to get there.”

Few votes changing in Ramsey County

Commentary by Grace Kelly

With the UpTake live streaming the Minnesota gubernatorial recount and heavy media coverage in the Twin Cities and statewide, this recount is being closely watched. So the real news is not votes changing for Tom Emmer, but how well this recount is fairing.

Due to changes in law and changes in procedures, these problems have gone away:

1) When a ballot is folded in such a way that it cannot be read by a machine, two judges carefully make a “duplicate”. By law, only duplicates are in the recount. The originals can only be examined in a later step called the contest step.

2) Absentee ballots are now handled differently, in a clearer and more streamlined fashion, so there are fewer issues.

3) Everyone learned from the last recount, from judges on down to voters. The ballots are very clean.

4) The fact that every challenged ballot will likely appear online and be available for general inspection hinders the temptation to make outrageous claims. … Continue Reading

Today’s UpTake: Gubernatorial Recount Enters Day Two

Minnesota’s long awaited gubernatorial recount got off the ground yesterday, and political pundits quickly dispelled analogies to the drawn-out, confusing and cutthroat 2008 affair, when the losing Norm Coleman team made thousands of “frivolous” challenges to ballots before falling to Al Franken by a mere 312 votes. For the most part, such challenges were few and far between — and especially rare in the populous Hennepin (Minneapolis) and Ramsey (St. Paul) counties, from which The UpTake will provide a live video feed all week. Fifty-six of Minnesota’s 87 counties finished their recount yesterday, but most of those are rural counties. That means that 44.65 percent of the total vote has been recounted. Hennepin and Ramsey counties expect to work until Friday, and perhaps into the weekend.

To be sure, ballots were challenged yesterday, and mostly by Republican Tom Emmer’s team. (Before the recount began, Emmer trailed DFL front runner Mark Dayton by 8,770 votes.) Read here to see what a frivolous challenge looks like, and our 12 examples from yesterday. In fact, in rural Renville County, 6,000 votes were counted, and Emmer’s team challenged a whopping 422 of them, or 7 percent. As for “frivolous” challenges, Emmer has recorded 281, and Dayton 86 — a rate of more than 3 to 1. And yet Dayton may actually have gained votes during yesterday’s recount. The Dayton campaign says it gained more than 160 votes over Emmer yesterday that weren’t counted on Nov. 2.

Does this all sound confusing? Read MinnPost Jay Weiner’s clarifying story, “10 things to look for and scratch our heads about”, and follow The UpTake today as we bring you Day 2 of the gubernatorial recount.

Recount Begins in Anoka and Carver Counties

Anoka and Carver counties started their gubernatorial recount at 9 a.m. today with lots of crowd chatter but few challenges. Candidate observers were located at all tables with “Look but don’t touch,” orders. Anoka underwent an orientation phase to get all ballots oriented alike before the count began. Anoka intends to finish by the end of the day on Friday. Carver opened one precinct at a time and oriented, sorted and counted in the same step. Carver hoped to finish its recount by the end of today.

Today’s UpTake: Minnesota Gubernatorial Recount Begins

Minnesota’s long-awaited gubernatorial recount begins today, with Democratic-Farm-Labor candidate Mark Dayton leading Republican Tom Emmer by 8,770 votes, or 0.4162 percent of all ballots cast on Nov. 2. Just as we did during the Al Franken-Norm Coleman Senatorial recount marathon in 2008, The UpTake will cover this one, minute by minute.

We’ll air live feeds this morning at 9 a.m. of ballots being counted by hand at both the Hennepin County Government Center Auditorium in Minneapolis and the Ramsey County-Elections Division Office in St. Paul — Minnesota’s two most populous counties. Hennepin County will employ 25 teams for the recount, and Ramsey will use 10 teams. On account of the sheer volume of ballots to count here in the Twin Cities, Hennepin and Ramsey Counties will likely take all week, whereas other counties may finish by Wednesday. The UpTake also expects to take calls today and later this week from roving journalists and election observers around the state.

Here are a couple angles to watch: Will the Dayton and Emmer campaigns remain true to their word and not make frivolous challenges to ballots (as Norm Coleman’s team did by the thousands in 2008)? Will election workers understand all of the complex changes to the recount process that the campaigns asked for and were granted by the Secretary of State’s Office? Watch us live this week, and find out.