Downballot: Will the recount ever end?
Posted: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 9:18 AM by Carrie Dann
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States
COLORADO: Denver Post reports that the top three names on Dem Gov. Bill Ritter's short list will likely be: "Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, outgoing state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter are three of the names in serious contention, strategists said."
"It would be a tough choice for Ritter, a first-term governor, because Democrats want someone who can raise enough money to keep Salazar's seat, which comes up for election in 2010," AP writes. "Salazar had raised more than $2 million for re-election."
Republicans will now have an easier time finding someone to run. Salazar was scaring off potential GOPers for 2010.
Who's on the GOP roster for the Colorado seat? CQ's list: "Potential Republican candidates include two former House members who have expressed some interest in returning to political life -- Bob Beauprez, who lost decisively to Ritter in the 2006 election for governor, and Scott McInnis, who served for a dozen years in the seat that John Salazar now holds. Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, a conservative who is retiring at the end of this year from a district that takes in suburbs south and west of Denver, also is mentioned as a possible candidate."
MINNESOTA: “At this rate, Minnesota's U.S. Senate recount will never end,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes. The five-member state canvassing board yesterday “ruled on about 160 challenges made by Franken's campaign -- with most of the votes awarded to Coleman, as expected -- only to learn at day's end that the Coleman campaign planned to restore 200-odd withdrawn challenges to its stack of around 1,000.”
“Election officials began the review by taking up ballots challenged by Franken. The Democrat went into the meeting with 441 active challenges, after withdrawing a large number in the past 10 days, plus 339 possible challenges based on incidents at the polls that the campaign says may have verged on tampering. The day's results: Coleman added 98 votes and Franken 22, while 41 were ruled out for either side. The board has yet to dive into challenges made by the Coleman campaign, which numbered roughly 1,000 before the word that it planned to restore about 200 of those it had previously withdrawn.”
TEXAS: If Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison does resign her seat to run for governor, Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams says he's waiting in the wings to run.
