Should Donnelly Seek a Recount?
Tuesday night's primary surprised a lot of people, myself very much included. As the vote counts trickled in, the margin between Koster and Donnelly bounced around in the hundreds. When I finally went to bed, I hoped that I would wake up to find that Margaret Donnelly had managed to scrape together enough votes to bring in a winner.
As of this writing, fewer than 900 votes separate Koster and Donnelly. 500 votes in St. Louis County were not counted. Yesterday morning, Margaret Donnelly issued the following statement:
At this time we are waiting for certification from the Secretary of State's office. We know that there are still over 500 votes that have not been counted in St. Louis County. And while we are not aware of similar situations elsewhere, we have not had the time to investigate other election jurisdictions. After certification we will weigh our options, including asking for a recount.A recount often results in changed totals, and it could strengthen Koster's margin, or reverse it.
Meanwhile, the Republican AG nominee, Mike Gibbons, would like nothing more than an extended fight between the Democrats.
So, readers, what should Margaret Donnelly do? Should she seek a recount? Should she accept the reported totals as they stand, and begin the process of welcoming Chris Koster into the party, now that he's been through the most elaborate and painful initiation ritual since hell week at the KA house?
Labels: attorney general, democrats, donnelly, gibbons, koster, Missouri
posted by Dan at 8/07/2008 07:20:00 AM
5 Comments:
She should absolutely seek a recount. She doesn't need to be nasty about it, but the Democratic party has long advocated that every vote should count. It's a value that is central to our party and we expect our candidates (especially in a primary) to work to achieve that goal. If Chris Koster complains, well, it's just another step in his education as a new Democrat.
Ditto 8:52
Also, of the CCP and The Star editorial board.
Fact is, Jeff Harris is a very good guy who never raised enough money to gain traction. His barrages of somewhat misleading polls and some damned clever ads -- alas seen only on Youtube by political junkies -- created an illusion of electability that was not there. The Koster folks on the CCP understood that, and swung in lock-step to Harris to keep the endorsement from Donnelly. The Star merely fell victim to it's tendency to devalue competent women who do not take the trouble to hide the fact that they know more about government than the editorial board.
Despite that -- and despite the Molly Factor -- Margaret nearly pulled it off. She ought to seek the recount -- if only to let the Party rest assured that nothing is amiss and that, for good or ill, Koster won it and has the right to call on us for our support in November.
Gotta give Chris credit: Unusual in a blond guy, but helpful for a politician, nothing makes him blush.
Koster was cleared of all wrong doing by the Ethics Commission.
Dan you owe the Senator from Cass, our next AG, an apology for the constant visceral attacks on his integrity for the past six months.
Let me consider your suggestion.
Umm, no.
If he winds up being the Democratic nominee, he will have my enthusiastic support, but I will continue to think that his manipulation of controlled third party committees was sleazy and beneath the dignity of a Democrat. Even with that strike against him, though, he is a far better candidate than Gibbons.
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