The recount is underway for the Minnesota state Senate seat that could give the majority to the Democrats.  Election officials in Minnesota yesterday began a manual recount of the 2.9 million votes cast on November 4 for Republican incumbent Norm Coleman or the Democrat former comedian Al Franken. They have until December 5 to complete the job. The state canvassing board postponed a decision on rejected absentee ballots. The recount was triggered by the smallness of Coleman's lead, only 215.

Franken met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for about 20 minutes on Wednesday morning in Reid’s office on the second floor of the Capitol building. After the meeting, he told reporters he had briefed the Majority Leader on the mechanics of the recount and said he is "cautiously optimistic" he will win.

The former comedy writer said he had scheduled meetings at the DSCC, where he will meet with experts who know about setting up transition offices and organizational things along those lines. He said it would "be irresponsible not to start thinking about that stuff before in case we do win."

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