Al Franken "finds" more votes, pulls into lead!

A "cache" of votes has been found, and now Al Franken is claiming that he's leading in the recount against Norm Coleman to be Senator from Minnesota! It's great that Franken would "find" more votes, and I'm sure all of them are "valid". From this:

Franken unexpectedly picked up 37 votes due to a combined machine malfunction and human error on Election Day that left 171 Maplewood ballots safe, secure but uncounted until Tuesday's final day of recounting in Ramsey County. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office immediately asked county officials to explain what had happened, and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign said it sent its own experts to Ramsey County to review the situation and said it was "skeptical about [the ballots'] sudden appearance."

Don't be skeptical, it's just "Democratic magic". Speaking about magic, don't watch the magician's other hand:

Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken’s campaign said Wednesday that the comedian has taken the lead in his race against Sen. Norm Coleman (R).

Franken’s lawyer, Marc Elias, has been pressing for the media to focus on the campaign’s internal vote totals of the recount, which as of Wednesday showed Franken opening a lead of 22 votes.

To drive home its point, the campaign will withdraw hundreds of challenges that it determines have no merit in the state’s ongoing recount.

"We will be sending a letter to the Secretary of State today withdrawing 633 challenges that we believe have no chance of being upheld before the state Canvassing Board," Elias said.

And, on behalf of all of those looking forward to chair-throwing Senate floor tantrums on CSPAN at 3AM, thank you.

UPDATE: See also this.

Posted in StuartSmalley at December 3, 2008 12:46 PM