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As expected for a runoff election the three weeks after the main event, turnout appears lighter in the Georgia senate race, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. But reports are that the lines are steady. Early and absentee voting appears to be indicating slightly higher turnout in some counties than expected, according to election officials.

At stake today is the senate seat currently held by incumbent Saxby Chambliss, who faces Democrat Jim Martin. Chambliss finished the general election with a plurality but state law requires a runoff if any candidate fails to get 50 percent of the vote. Should Martin win, it would give Democrats 59 seats in the U.S. Senate with the Minnesota race remaining in a recount. Polls in Georgia close at 7:00pm.

The Minnesota state canvassing board today voted unanimously to deny a request from Democrat Al Franken’s campaign to include absentee ballots which had bee rejected into its final recount tally. The move would seem to be a blow to Franken’s efforts, particularly since a judge in one county has allowed his campaign to gain access to the list of rejected voters already.

But, as the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, the canvassing board made clear that it’s decision was not a statement on the merits of Franken’s argument and that they expected that question to be settled in litigation, seemingly kicking the issue down the road.

Also in recount news, attorneys for Franken and Republican Senator Norm Coleman have indicated that may be able to reduce the number of ballots both sides have challenged during the process. That number currently stands at over 3,600 ballots.

The Minnesota state canvassing board today voted unanimously to deny a request from Democrat Al Franken’s campaign to include absentee ballots which had bee rejected into its final recount tally. The move would seem to be a blow to Franken’s efforts, particularly since a judge in one county has allowed his campaign to gain access to the list of rejected voters already.

But, as the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, the canvassing board made clear that it’s decision was not a statement on the merits of Franken’s argument and that they expected that question to be settled in litigation, seemingly kicking the issue down the road.

Also in recount news, attorneys for Franken and Republican Senator Norm Coleman have indicated that may be able to reduce the number of ballots both sides have challenged during the process. That number currently stands at over 3,600 ballots.

The Minnesota state canvassing board today voted unanimously to deny a request from Democrat Al Franken’s campaign to include absentee ballots which had bee rejected into its final recount tally. The move would seem to be a blow to Franken’s efforts, particularly since a judge in one county has allowed his campaign to gain access to the list of rejected voters already.

But, as the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, the canvassing board made clear that it’s decision was not a statement on the merits of Franken’s argument and that they expected that question to be settled in litigation, seemingly kicking the issue down the road.

Also in recount news, attorneys for Franken and Republican Senator Norm Coleman have indicated that may be able to reduce the number of ballots both sides have challenged during the process. That number currently stands at over 3,600 ballots.

The Georgia senate runoff has featured appearances by political heavyweights from both sides of the aisle (even President-elect Obama cut a radio ad for Democrat Jim Martin). Now, the big GOP gun is coming out as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is set to join incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss for a series of rallies across the state next Monday, a day before the runoff election.

That Palin will be in the state so close to the vote is a statement about her new role in the party. Because runoff elections tends to be “base” elections, Chambliss is looking to energize conservatives in the state for the runoff and Palin’s presence is more evidence of her appeal to them. Other potential 2012 presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani either have or plan to appear for Chambliss but Palin appears to be getting the job as the closer.

The race could give Democrats a 60-seat majority in the Senate depending on what happens in the Minnesota recount and saving the seat would be a rare victory for the GOP in the current environment. Palin could certainly get some credit as well. But Democrats retain hopes for taking the seat, as the Politico reports.

Senator Norm Coleman holds a 210 vote lead over Democrat Al Franken in the mandatory senate recount in Minnesota, according to an analysis by the Minneapolis Star Tribune (the AP is reporting a Coleman lead of 172 votes).

But both candidates have lost more than 1,000 votes to challenges during the recount process and the over 3,000 ballots that have been questioned could hold the key to the final outcome with just over 78 percent of the vote re-counted. The state canvassing board will examine those challenged ballots after the recount is finished.

President-elect Barack Obama has waded into the Georgia senate runoff by cutting an ad for Democratic candidate Jim Martin. John McCain and a bevy of Republicans have stumped in the state for Senator Saxby Chambliss and Martin has had some high-profile help himself, but this marks the first time the incoming president has made a direct appearance in the campaign. Script:

This is Barack Obama. I want to thank everybody who turned out and voted for me in November. Together, we can get America moving again.

But the elections aren’t over. In Georgia, there’s a runoff on Tuesday, Dec. 2. And I want to urge you to turn out one more time and help elect Jim Martin to the United States Senate.

Jim supports my plan to cut middle-class taxes, make sure every American has access to affordable health care, stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, and get our economy moving again.

Jim Martin’s a man of his word. And I know he’ll do everything he can in the Senate to help me change Washington and get America moving again.
Please join me in supporting Jim Martin for the United States Senate, on Tuesday, Dec. 2. And head to the polls just one more time this year.

After two days of counting and 46 percent of the ballots examined, Republican Senator Norm Coleman’s slim lead has gotten even slimmer. Coleman led Democrat Al Franken by 215 votes heading into the mandatory recount but after day two, that lead has slipped to just 136 votes, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

But the final result is almost certain to be decided by the state’s canvassing board, which will make the call on a growing list of disputed ballots by both sides. During the recount, representatives from both campaigns are allowed to challenge individual ballots for various reasons (such as a voter who failed to completely fill in the circle next to a candidate’s name or made some other technical error). The number of disputed ballots rose to 734 combined at the end of day two.

Actress/comedian Tina Fey gained a lot of much-deserved attention (and ratings) for her spot-on impersonation of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” but in retrospect, it may have been another of the show’s creations that captured the true zeitgeist of the 2008 election.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Keenan Thompson played a “financial expert” for the show’s “Weekend Update” segments named Oscar Rogers, a not-so-subtle nod to the hoards of real such experts who have flooded TV screens throughout the current financial crisis. Nattily attired as if he just stepped off the market floor, this sage dispenser of financial advice had just one thing to say – somebody better “fix it!”

“How do we go about fixing it specifically?” he asked. “Take it one step at a time. Identify the problem -- fix it! Identify another problem -- fix it! Proceed as necessary until it is all fixed!” (You can watch the performance here, it’s about 2:10 into the clip).

A big part of the reason why President-election Barack Obama’s message of “change” resonated so powerfully was the sense among the electorate that things were broken and needed to be fixed, especially on the economy which voters consistently said was the most important issue by far. Less obvious is whether they voted for any specific remedy or simply a wholesale change to --- something.

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As if a 215 vote margin wasn’t close enough, the Minnesota Senate race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken has gotten even closer after about 18 percent of the ballots counted in a mandatory recount, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

After the first day of counting, Coleman’s lead going into the recount slipped to just 174 votes. Observers for both campaigns are on hand for the recount and are allowed to challenge questionable ballots. It’s those challenges which could be a deciding factor in the ultimate outcome of the race. Ballots challenged by either campaign are set aside until the middle of December when the state canvassing board will look at each individually. So far, a total of 269 votes have been challenged, 146 by Coleman’s representatives and 123 by Franken’s.