MINNEAPOLIS — There are no voters left to persuade, but as Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race heads toward a statewide recount, the bare-knuckle fight between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken feels as if Election Day had never come and gone.
Both campaigns are still furiously pumping out news releases, calling news conferences, recruiting volunteers and pressing donors for cash to carry on the fight.
After the two candidates spent nearly $40 million combined — most of it on ads tarring the other — Coleman leads by about 200 votes out of almost 3 million cast. An automatic recount is to start next week.
The Coleman mantra is that a small lead is still a lead and the incumbent, at least for now, is the winner. To drive home that point, Coleman’s Republican colleagues in the Senate have kept up a steady stream of kudos for his victory.
Franken has his own message: “We don’t yet know who won the election, but with your help, we’ll make sure that every vote is counted fairly and accurately,” read a Tuesday e-mail message from campaign manager Stephanie Schriock asking for volunteers to help watch the recount.
Keeping the back-and-forth at high boil has required both teams to proceed more or less as if the election never happened. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie appointed the members of a board that will make final decisions on disputed ballots.
