I don’t need yer fancy-assed statistics to know that zero senators means gross underrepresentation. 
The election news just gets better and better.
[quote=“fivethirtyeight”]The Alaska Board of Elections has finally updated (pdf). With 17,728 votes counted since the previous update, Democrat Mark Begich has the lead over Republican Ted Stevens, 132,196 to 131,382.
More votes to be counted tomorrow and possibly Friday.
As we’ve pointed out and has been pointed out elsewhere, the remaining votes come from Begich-friendly districts. Mark Begich is now an overwhelming favorite to win the Alaska Senate seat.[/quote]
{quote=“Politico”]The dream of 60 Senate seats simply refuses to die — with positive signs suddenly popping up for Democrats in all three unresolved races.
Around 1 a.m. EST, news that Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich has inched ahead of Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens rekindled flagging Democratic hopes they would reach the mythical filibuster-proof majority.
In Minnesota, Al Franken has steadily eroded incumbent Republican Norm Coleman’s lead before the recount has even begun — with a highly contentious recount on the way.
And in Georgia, a poll released Thursday shows Democrat Jim Martin within striking distance of Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a surprisingly close runoff scheduled for Dec. 2.
If Democrats sweep those three races, they’ll hit 60. At the moment they are stuck on 57 — a respectable six-seat pick-up for 2008.[/quote]
Of course, if the Dems do fall short, they can always kick Joe Lieberman’s ass to the curb.
Seems Al Franken has a good shot at winning the recount.
I’d like to see that. Franken 2016 would be a good thing.
What the hell is going on in Alaska? Do they only have one person counting the ballots, taking frequent smoking and Internet breaks? Why is it taking so long to look at some 30,000 ballots?
Begich wins!
[quote=“NYT”]Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, convicted last month on federal ethics charges, lost his bid for a seventh term as final ballots were counted on Tuesday, giving Democrats at least 58 seats in the Senate for the first years of the Obama administration.
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, who supported Senator John McCain in the presidential race, was allowed to keep his committee chairmanship as Democrats sought to strengthen their majority.
With an estimated 2,500 votes still outstanding and other election certification steps still to take place, Mark Begich, the Democratic mayor of Anchorage, had taken a lead of 3,724 votes out of more than 315,000 cast, and he declared victory.[/quote]
The count in Minnesota ended with a 215 vote margin for Coleman, triggering an automatic recount. It’s expected that Franken will win that recount, giving the Dems 59 Senate seats with a runoff election in Georgia still to come.
[quote=“Jaboney”]Begich wins!
:bravo: :dance:
Go Franken!
And if only we can get rid of that [color=#FF0000]scumbag[/color] Saxby Chambliss; you know, the guy who had the temerity to compare former Senator Max Cleland, a combat veteran who lost three limbs in Vietnam, to Osama bin Laden. :raspberry:
Fifty eight is good! :bravo: Good job, Alaskans! 
[quote=“Chris”]
Go Franken! [/quote]
A CNN article from the 19th. It looks like Coleman has 215 more votes out of 2 million plus, triggering an automatic recount. A very ugly recount from the gist of the article. Lawyers are being readied, party members primed and accusations are already flying along with comparisons to Florida 2000.
The Georgia election and Minnesota may end up being decided around the same time, early in December, as long as there aren’t lawsuits filed.
*edited to fix the screwup I made in quoting Chris.
More good news, from a race within the Dem Congress. (House, not Senate)
[quote=“Politico: Waxman dethrones Dingell as chairman”]California Rep. Henry A. Waxman on Thursday officially dethroned longtime Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, upending a seniority system that has governed Democratic politics in the House for decades.
[…]
The ascension of Waxman, a wily environmentalist, recasts a committee that Dingell has chaired since 1981 with an eye toward protecting the domestic auto industry in his native Michigan. The Energy and Commerce Committee has principal jurisdiction over many of President-elect Barack Obama’s top legislative priorities, including energy, the environment and health care.[/quote]
You be the electoral judge- Minnesota NPR has a site up where you can vote for yourself on some of the actual ballots being judged in the Coeman/Franken recount. For amusement purposes only, of course.
Still, gives a good sense of what the scrutineers are up against