MN Secretary of State: (Senator) Coleman's goal 'to win at any price'

[sabra]

Source: Politico

The Democratic Secretary of State of Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, was just on MSNBC talking about the recount in the Minnesota Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Democrat Al Franken, and his comments will likely upset Coleman's campaign.

Asked about the Coleman campaign's criticism of the recanvassing process, Ritchie said: “Their goal is to win at any price, they’ve invested millions and millions of dollars. We consider this part of the normal political rhetoric,” said Ritchie. “We're used to the political rhetoric being amped up. That’s part of their job – to win at any price.”

Since last Wednesday, Coleman's lead has shrunk as county officials have recanvassed their election totals and corrected errors that have benefited Franken.

National Republicans have accused Ritchie, the man tasked with overseeing the recount, of being an unabashed partisan. A background document distributed by national Republicans portrays Ritchie as a far-left, Democratic version of Katherine Harris, the former Republican secretary of state whose actions helped decide the 2000 presidential election.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1108/MN_Secreta...

[mediaman007]

1. Seems like a non-partisan statement to me. He would probably

say the same thing about Al Franken. Ritchie doesn't say he's offended by each candidates position. In fact, his statement: “Their goal is to win at any price, they’ve invested millions and millions of dollars." doesn't limit itself to just Coleman.

[Wickerman]

2. Ritchie fully understands how the election was stolen in 2000

and he is where he is because he does not want to see democracy side-stepped again. His presentation when running for office was impressive. Minnesota is in good hands.

[breadandwine]

13. That said, aren't hand ballots in Minnesota electronically counted?

The state was rigged electronically and that's why we're in this mess. I am not hopeful that Franken can pull it out. The state has a GOP governor, big problem. It's elephants run amok.

[Wickerman]

17. Yes, but hand inspection is called for when there is a recount

and there you look for the intent of the voter. So, if I put an X on a ballot where I should have bubbled Franken that would not register on the machine but would be recorded by hand as a vote for Al.

[DJ13]

3. .....being an unabashed partisan

.....says the party that stole two Presidential elections by controlling the Secretary of State office in both Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.........

[TankLV]

20. whose CAMPAIGN CHAIRS ran the Sec of State office in both states!

We got your "partisan" crap here, asswipes...

[Idealism]

4. National Republicans portray Ritchie as a liber version of Katherine Harris eh

so would that mean this will even the score a bit? Last I checked even if he was influencing a senate race, its a far cry from being the steward of the free world. Its still not even close, even if Ritchie was doing something unscrupulous (which i don't think he is).

[barbtries]

5. they were okay

with that kind of partisanship when it tipped the odds their way. boo fucking hoo now. with your dirty tricks and your election fraud and your corrupt contributors. eat it.

[aquart]

6. So they're admitting Katherine Harris stole Florida for Bush?

Ask them to provide documentary evidence so we can proceed with prosecution.

[fjc]

8. Precisely, and they don't even seem to realize they're admitting it.

[pattmarty]

7. Even if that were true (the left wing partisan crap), I say to ALL........

........you Republicans nationwide that NEVER said a god damn thing about "junior" thru his 8 yrs of political rape and bullshit, FUCK YOU AND YOUR TOOTHY FUCKING ROBOT COLEMAN!!!!!! And just for good measure: KISS MY FUCKING LIBERAL ASS.

[KamaAina]

9. CREEP

the updated version: Committee to Re-elect the Putz

[Sydnie]

10. How interesting that they consider this guy in the same vein as Harris

They KNOW what Harris did and they fear that from someone on the opposition side.

Call a Wambulance.

[louis-t]

11. Democratic version of Katherine Harris

So they're accusing him of purging voter rolls? I thought he was actually following the law and making sure votes were counted properly. How could I have been so wrong?

[bowens43]

12. "National Republicans have accused Ritchie

of being an unabashed partisan.


Funny, I don't remember them complaining about that in Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004.

[happygoluckytoyou]

14. FUNNY... the more they count... the better Franken gets... damn vote counting!!!

[gratuitous]

15. A democratic version of Katherine Harris?

I didn't know Mark had implants!

But does the Coleman campaign have any actual instances of failure to follow the law? There were dozens of allegations of wrong-doing against Harris and the Florida vote-counting apparatus, all of which were swept away with a stroke of Fat Tony's Supreme Pen. Does Coleman have any, you know, evidence? Or is his campaign just throwing every piece of dried, crusty crap it can get its hands on to see if any of it sticks?

[rdmtimp]

18. You beat me to it!

I was going to ask what his equivalents of Moxie and Spunk are.

[Zhade]

22. "democratic" and "katherine harris" don't belong in the same fucking sentence!

NT!

[No Elephants]

16. Once again, the "errors" seem to be against the Democrat. sure, they are correcting them now that a

recount is mandatory. However, I stiil wonder why so many errors that disadvantaged franken were made, while few, if any, disadvantaged Coleman. Coleman is complaining about the correcting of the errots, but that takes attention away from the bigger issue. Why so many errors disadvantaging only one side?

[marshall]

19. Everyone in MN should check the trunks of their cars!

Every vote should be counted!

[Hugabear]

21. In Minnesota, officials are allowed to consider voter intent

At least according to what I've read. Coleman can whine and cry all he wants, but he doesn't have a fucking chance. Obama won Minnesota, therefore Franken should be the winner as well. As soon as they do the recount, I have full faith that they'll find enough votes to put him over the top.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

23. If they are accusing Ritchie of being a far left version of Katherine Harris

Then they are acknowledging that Katherine Harris was biased, partisan and didn't do her job fairly.

Two-faced, lousy, sleazy hypocrites