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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

Let’s play Senate style 3 card monte!

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Everyone is paying close attention to the latest numbers in Minnesota's Senate race. Before the board met, Coleman was up 188. After Day 1, he was up 362. He's expecting to be down to Democrat Al Franken after Day 3.

Here's one problem...

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of challenged ballots that have been withdrawn from both campaigns. We're not certain if those ballots will be dedicated to Coleman, to Franken or to the Other pile. The Secretary of State's Office is working to process the withdrawn ballots and redeclare the vote to the call made by the local election official during the recount.

What makes things tougher is that the campaigns are now restoring some challenges that they withdrew earlier. They're doing this because they know that the board is acceptable to certain challenges. They are also withdrawing challenges that they know have no chance of being upheld.

As one colleague put it, the campaigns are playing 3 card monte and no one knows the real number.