Drowning in anoraksia

Some of the last pieces of the November 4th US election are falling into place. Felonious Republican Ted Stevens has conceded the Alaska senate race to Democrat Mark Begich. Missouri has finally declared for John McCain by just over three thousand votes out of 2.5 million - a major achievement for Obama - leaving Obama with more than twice as many Electoral College Votes as McCain in the final count.

And the Minnesota Senate race is entering the recount phase, which could last a month. A learned professor says that satirical comedian Al Franken stands a good chance of winning here. This is based on the highly academic theorem that "We just know that, in this case, Democrats tend to [screw up their ballots] more often [than Republicans]."

You can drown in political anoraksia here. Minnesota's laws are quite liberal on voting. They say, broadly, that as long as the intent can be seen on the ballot, the vote counts. So the recount is going to go on for ages with lots of broad interpretation and many lawyers getting in on the act. The website linked shows 11 countested ballots from the actual recount. You can vote on what you think should have happened with the vote. Once you have voted you can see how everyone else has voted.

Once Minnesota is swabbed up, that would just leave Georgia with their run-off and a few House seats still being counted/recounted/litigated.