Political Notebook

Dayton gets ready to lead

Now comes the hard work.

After Republican Tom Emmer conceded the governor's race yesterday to Democrat Mark Dayton, the governor-elect is busy getting ready to take the lead. He is scheduled to meet with Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty to talk about the transition and they will hold a press conference at 2:45 p.m. today.

Yesterday afternoon Dayton told the media he expected to announce his new chief of staff within 48 hours. He is also busy looking to fill other posts in the administration. When asked about how the one-month delay due to the recount will impact his ability to get his administration in order, Dayton said "No excuses. We'll be ready."

He'll face a challenging environment with a projected $6.2 billion budget deficit and both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature controlled by Republicans for the first time in 38 years. Dayton reiterated yesterday that he will push to make sure tax dollars are collected "more progressively." During his campaign, he ran on the idea of raising taxes on Minnesota's top earners to help balance the state's budget. But he'll likely face a tough fight with Republicans vowing their opposition to any income tax increases.

Ultimately, Dayton said his chief concern will be looking at ways to create jobs in Minnesota.

"Let us first share our best ideas and reach swift agreement to improve Minnesota's economy, help provide jobs for the Minnesotans who need them and help create new and better jobs for our children and grandchildren," he said.

Emmer concedes the governor's race

Republican Tom Emmer conceded the governor's race to Democrat Mark Dayton this morning at a press conference in front of his home in Delano.

"Minnesotans made their choice by however thin a margin and we respect that choice. Now is the time for all of us to come together and do what is best for Minnesota," Emmer said surrounded by his family.

During the press conference, he said that his analysis of yesterday's Minnesota Supreme Court opinion left open the door to a possible lawsuit because it noted that not every precinct in the state did perform "reconciliation." That is a process where the number of ballots cast are matched up with the number of voters. He said some had urged him to take up the legal fight knowing that it would mean Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty would stay on with a Republican-led Legislature. But Emmer said he did not believe that was the right thing to do.

"We must address the questions raised by recent elections in this state, but I do not believe a delay in seating the next governor will hep to unite us or move our state forward," he said.

Dayton is expected to address the media at 2 p.m. today.

Emmer expected to concede this morning

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer is expected to concede the governor's race this morning, according to several news conferences. A press conference has been scheduled at 10:30 a.m. at his home in Delano.

Emmer's decision came after a Minnesota Supreme Court issued an opinion rejected an argument being made by Emmer's campaign that could have been a vehicle for a lawsuit. Democrat Mark Dayton lead Emmer by nearly 9,000 votes heading into the recount and the numbers have not changed significantly.

So what do local party activists think about the news?

Olmsted County Republican Party Co-chair Bruce Kaskubar said he believes given the court's decision and the recount outcome that Emmer is doing the right thing.

"I think it was a big enough vote difference that the result I think not suprisingly has held up. And I think it is right to concede at this point," he said.

Olmsted County DFL Chair Lynn Wilson said she is excited at the prospect of having a Democrat back in the governor's mansion after a 20-year drought. She added that she believes Emmer did what he had to do by going through the recount process but given the results and the court's decision, it was time for him to concede.

"To his credit then having no further means to win he is doing what is right and is conceding to the will of the people of the state of Minnesota who elected Mark Dayton as their next governor," Wilson said.

Dayton is expected to hold a press conference later today. Emmer's concession allows Dayton to get to work on his transition into the governor's office.

Emmer says he will withdraw some challenged ballots

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer called a press conference this morning to talk about the ongoing election recount. He said today that he plans to instruct his legal team to review all of the ballots challenged by his campaign and if they do not believe they will be upheld by the State Canvassing Board, he will withdraw them.

A report issued by the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office today says that the Emmer campaign made 2,845 ballot challenges that were deemed to be "frivolous" by election officials. Democrat Mark Dayton's campaign made 35 challenges considered frivolous. Dayton announced earlier this week he would withdraw all of those challenges.

Emmer said today that he is "not currently planning an election contest." But he said he wants the Minnesota Supreme Court to explain their decision to deny a request by the Republican Party of Minnesota to look into whether counties failed to follow the state's rules regarding "reconciliation." In the process, election officials make sure the number of ballots cast are equal to the number of voters.

Emmer said he is deeply concerned about instances in some counties where the ballots far outnumber the number of voters who signed in at the polls.

"We have only asked that the law be applied the way it is written," he said.

He added that he did not expect the recount would dramatically change the vote totals between him and Dayton, who had an 8,770-vote lead over Emmer heading into the recount. He said the recount has shown that the mechanical part of the process has worked well.

Ballot challenges continue as recount moves ahead

Nearly 70 percent of the ballots have been recounted in the gubernatorial race. According to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office, Democrat Mark Dayton is down 38 votes and Republican Tom Emmer is down 1 vote. But it's worth noting that those numbers are skewed because there are 740 ballot challenges that have been filed by volunteers for each campaign. Of those, the vast majority are coming from Emmer volunteers who have filed 597 challenges so far.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that in Hennepin County, Emmer's camp challenged 68 times more ballots than Dayton volunteers raising concern among some election officials. But Republicans have defended the challenges saying they are doing their job to make sure any questionable ballots are considered. Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Tony Sutton told the Associated Press yesterday that he believes there are some issues in this election that would merit a lawsuit following the statewide recount.

Dayton gains 13 votes in Olmsted County recount

Olmsted County wrapped up its recount of 55,671 ballots within nine hours — much faster than anticipated. DFLer Mark Dayton got a boost from the recount netting 13 additional votes while Republican Tom Emmer lost 9 votes. A total of 10 ballot challenges were made with all six of those made by Emmer volunteers being deemed "frivolous" by election officials. That means these ballots were included in the final vote totals. Of the four challenges raised by Dayton volunteers, two were considered frivolous.

Statewide, 45 percent of the ballots have been recounted. Dayton gained a total of 20 votes and Emmer lost a total of four votes. A total of 367 ballot challenges were accepted with 281 of them coming from the Emmer campaign. Heading into the gubernatorial recount, Dayton was leading by 8,770 votes.

For number lovers, here is a breakdown of the recount results for area counties in southeast Minnesota. The first number is the Nov. 2 vote totals, the second is recount total and the third is the vote change. It should be noted that Mower County's results have not yet been posted on the Secretary of State's website.

Dodge County

Dayton:  2,579, 2,576, -3
Tom Emmer: 4,117, 4,116, -1
Ballot challenges by Dayton volunteers: 1
Ballot challenges by Emmer volunteers: 4

Fillmore County
Dayton:  3,535, 3,535, 0
Emmer: 3,648, 3,649, +1
Ballot challenges by Dayton volunteers: 0
Ballot challenges by Emmer volunteers: 5

Goodhue County
Dayton: 7,247, 7,260, +13
Emmer: 9,178, 9,180, +2
Ballot challenges by Dayton volunteers: 0
Ballot challenges by Emmer volunteers: 2

Houston County
Dayton: 3,187, 3,182, -5
Emmer: 3,774, 3,774, 0
Ballot challenges by Dayton volunteers: 2
Ballot challenges by Emmer volunteers: 12

Wabasha County (43% of ballots recounted)
Dayton: 1,317, 1,320, +3
Emmer: 1,950, 1,950, 0
Ballot challenges by Dayton volunteers: 1
Ballots challenges by Emmer volunteers: 1

Winona County
Dayton: 8,275, 8,273, -2
Emmer: 7,950, 7,950, 0
Ballot challenges by Dayton volunteers: 3
Ballot challenges by Emmer volunteers: 5

Let the ballot counting begin!

Counting of Olmsted County ballots is well underway this morning as the gubernatorial recount kicked off. Statewide, election officials will count 2.1 million ballots by hand. Here in Olmsted County, they will go through 55,671 ballots and hope to wrap up the recount by 9 p.m. tonight.

Election officials sported blue shirts with "election judge" in white on the sleeves. A volunteer for DFLer Mark Dayton's campaign and one from Republican Tom Emmer's campaign are sat at each table watching judges sort and count the votes. They can challenge ballots if they think there is a question about who the voter intended to cast a ballot for and those challenged ballots will be sent to the state. Prior to the recount, Dayton lead Emmer by 8,775 votes. That is less than one half of one percent of the total votes cast, which automatically triggers a recount under state law.

Mark Krupski, the county's Director of Property Records and Licensing, said so far things are going smoothly. They have 20,000 less ballots to count this time compared to the 2008 U.S. Senate race recount. As for the cost of the recount, he said he estimates the total price tag will be $20,000. The state chips in 3 cents per ballot for a total of $1,670 leaving county taxpayers to foot the rest of the bill.

Republicans file first lawsuit related to gubernatorial election

The first lawsuit related to the gubernatorial election has officially been filed. Emmer for Governor and the Repulican Party of Minnesota have filed lawsuits against St. Louis and Pine counties accusing them of not responding in a "timely manner' to data requests related to the Nov. 2 election.

Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton issued the following statement about the lawsuits:

“The unacceptable foot dragging of St. Louis and Pine Counties cannot persist. The Emmer for Governor campaign and the Republican Party of Minnesota should not have to go to court to get counties to respond to data practices requests in a timely manner. We will continue to pursue any counties that do not promptly meet their legal obligations during this process. Minnesotans deserve better."

Click the links to view copies of the lawsuit against St. Louis and Pine counties.

Meanwhile, the recount team for DFLer Mark Dayton had a press conference this morning at the Capitol. David Lillehaug, an attorney for Dayton, accused Emmer campaign of going on one of the "biggest fishing expeditions of all time" by requesting tens of thousands of documents.

Olmsted County Elections Administrator Pam Fuller said Olmsted County has been deluged with data requests from  the Republican Party of Minnesota and that the Dayton campaign has asked for copies of whatever the Emmer campaign gets. She estimates it will take 60 staff hours to fufill these extensive data requests.

Pawlenty stumps for Emmer in Rochester

"Gov. Tim Pawlenty joined in Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer at a rally over the lunch hour at the Rochester International Airport as part of a statewide fly-around in advance of tomorrow's election. More than 50 supporters toting "Emmer for governor" signs welcomed the candidate.

Also showing up in support was former 1st District GOP Rep. Gil Gutknecht and former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Sandy Keith. Several local Republican candidates also turned out including Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, House District 29A candidate Duane Quam, House District 29B candidate Mike Rolih and House District 30A candidate Charlie O'Connell.

During the rally, Pawlenty emphasized that Emmer is the right choice for voters who want to increase jobs in southeast Minnesota. He said Rochester is a key economic center for the state due in large part to the synergy among the Mayo Clinic, IBM and the University of Minnesota — Rochester.

"Tom understands that. I've had the chance to talk to him about it. He understands the importance of keeping that momentum going for southeastern Minnesota," Pawlenty said.

Emmer told the crowd that his opponents would end up hurting southeast Minnesota because of their support of the federal health care overhaul.

"They are supportive of government health care instead of allowing the Mayo Clinic to continue to be a leader in innovation and the main medical destination point for everybody not only in the United States of America but in the world," he said.

 

Rochester gets plenty of attention in final campaign push

In advance of tomorrow's election, gubernatorial and congressional candidates are busy traveling across the state including making stops in Rochester. The visits kick off at 11:45 a.m. today when IP gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner will rally voters at the Peace Plaza in Rochester. The Horner campaign has three buses traveling the state as part of its get-out-the-vote efforts. Horner will be on the bus headed to Rochester.

At 12:15 p.m., GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer and Gov. Tim Pawlenty will fly in to the Rochester International Airport as part of a statewide fly-around tour. At 6:45 p.m., DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton will also fly in to the Rochester airport. He will be joined by U.S.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Also joining Dayton will be DFL 1st Distrit Rep. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Rochester Sen. Ann Lynch and AFL-CIO Minnesota Chapter President Shar Knutson.

At the same time as the Dayton rally, GOP congressional candidate Randy Demmer will be holding a get-out-the-vote rally of his own at the Rochester International Events Center.