No More Floridas!

Although his slender "lead" was obviously dwarfed by the tens of thousands of ballots still to be counted, Senator Norm Coleman brazenly declared victory on Election Night. Coleman tried to put his victory story out there in the press as though it were a done deal and tried to browbeat his opponent Al Franken into giving up--but fortunately nobody was buying the bluster this time. The "pre-count" of the votes (still going) currently has cut Coleman's lead to 206 votes out of 3.5 million.

Democrats must stand behind their candidate's right to a full recount of every ballot cast in the state of Minnesota. The Obama campaign should lend its army of volunteers in Minnesota to join those who will watch the recount progress next week. The DNC should send its attorneys to fight any legal shenanigans Coleman may use to suppress ballots. (And Franken needs to play by the rules too.) We must ensure Franken gets the full recount that the US Supreme Court denied to Al Gore.

This is the most important test of the integrity of the Federal elections process since Florida 2000. Fortunately, the standards for undervotes and overvotes are clearer in Minnesota than they were in Florida. At least we've learned something in eight years. In the end, democracy demands transparency and the voters--not the candidates--must have the final say. We must make sure this election is won, not stolen.