With Minnesota recount underway, Al Franken visits Capitol Hill
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/08/art.albill1108.ap.jpg caption="Al Franken traveled to Washington on Wednesday."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - As Minnesota begins to re-count the nearly three million ballots cast in the state’s tightly-contested Senate battle, the two candidates in the race - Democrat Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman - were on Capitol Hill meeting with Senate leaders.
Franken met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for about 20 minutes on Wednesday morning in Reid’s office on the second floor of the Capitol building. After the meeting, he told reporters he had briefed the Majority Leader on the mechanics of the recount and said he is "cautiously optimistic" he will win.
"We believe that if they're all counted, we think that we’ll prevail given the sort of history of all this,” Franken said of the recount.
The former comedy writer said he had scheduled meetings at the DSCC, where he will meet with experts who know about setting up transition offices and organizational things along those lines. He said it would "be irresponsible not to start thinking about that stuff before in case we do win."
Franken also said his campaign will continue fundraising while the ballots are being counted to pay for field organization and potential legal costs.
"We anticipate that there will be more litigation," Franken said. Lawsuits have been filed by both campaigns.
Franken's trip to Washington, however, was largely symbolic. A congressional aide told CNN the underlying purpose of the Reid meeting was to blunt Coleman’s public posture that he has won re-election and to demonstrate that Franken will be ready to immediately assume office should he win.
Another aide said the reason for Franken’s optimism is that in Minnesota recounts are done by hand and election officials are supposed to determine the intention of each voter. There is a school of thought that elderly voters, poor voters, and others who might favor Democrats are more prone to having mistakenly marked their ballots - for example, circling a name instead of connecting the arrows.
Coleman, meanwhile, visited the office of his Republican colleague Ted Stevens, where he met with the embattled senator for about 10 minutes. Stevens was defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday night after the outstanding ballots in the Alaska senate race were counted.
Coleman did not answer questions after leaving Stevens' office.
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Not a big fan of Franken until "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot" and "Lying Liars", which are both spot on. Sarcasm would be a much-needed addition to the Democrats' message. It's a shame Franken wasn't in the Senate to ridicule Duhbya and Darth.
Franken to D.C.
Coleman to Jail with his buddies Dick & George
Admittedly, I do not know enough about Al Franken to comment.
That being said, the thought of the Dems having a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority just makes me giddy...the cherry on top of one helluva November ice cream sundae.
On second thought, Franken is a great politician. GO AL!!!!
If the you Democrats do get the 60-seat majority, you can't blame Republicans anymore if things go bad. It really frightens me that people like Pelosi, Reed, and Schumer are going to be running the show. God help us all....
Al Franken should be back on SNL doing his Stuart Smalley skit as leader of the self-help group Recount Rejects. He's going to need those daily affirmations.
Anyone can visit Capitol Hill–I've been there myself. Does that mean I can be a Senator too?
I hope Al wins. More Democrats, fewer Republicans.
Jen- it doesn't frighten me..they didn't do anything but get bashed by the likes of you..they truly are moderates..let them do their jobs and see
I hear Bill O'Rielly endorsed Franken.
Good Luck , Al ..... We need you to become the next senator of Minn., ...... You would represent Paul Wellstone in great fashion !!!!!
All of you morons (not maroons Desert Storm Vet- where did you learn to spell?) who deride Al Franken because he's a comedian (and you didn't get his jokes) probably never read his books, or listened to him on Air America Radio, where he was a talk show host. I'm sure you were too busy tuning in to Rush and Ann (adam's apple) Coulter and all those other lying liars. Al Franken is highly intelligent, has a great sense of humor and speaks the truth to power. Lots of us are sick and tired of Republicans ruling with fear and lies (and not much humor, by the way)
Hopefully Al Franken will prevail. No more crooks in the White House (republicans)!
It's pretty funny to see how the GOP likes seeing a clown not concede the election. At least Franken's good at being a clown. Bush is only good at screwing up.
I think he'd be a great senator. D.C. needs more humor. The only problem is that he said he was cautiously optimistic, which he said in his book "The Truth, With Jokes" is an optimist's way of saying "We're screwed".
I really don't care.
Oh yeah, not to be presumptuous or anything. By the way, Al, have you met with Obama about your transition team? You know, the one you're putting together for when he leaves the White House?
You go, Al! Way to show confidence! 🙂
I really hope he wins. I think he would make an outstanding Senator!
With a hand recount the "will of the voter" or his/her intentions should be the rule and if that is the case then Franken might have the advantage. After all it should be whoever gets the most votes. Even if that jerk Coleman does win.
I'd rather see a Harvard educated clown in the Senate the a poser like Coleman. Competence and substance over ideology.