Franken = Winner

So say three judges.
Eric Black sets out the potential legal steps after this ruling but says:
The likeliest outcome — no matter whether Team Coleman takes their case to the U.S. Supreme Court and/or tries to get a fresh start in federal district court — is that Franken will be seated in the Senate in roughly [...]

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Compromise FAIL

The stimulus package has been blocked in the Senate on a 35-35 vote. Commentary from the economists – Peter Martin and Joshua Gans.
Things I would note:

Malcolm and the Coalition completely rejected the package and refused to negotiate.
Mr F threw an impassioned wobbly and gave vague indications of what he wanted from the negotiations – and [...]

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Election over?

It’s official (until the lawsuit) – Franken by 225 votes.

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Every vote counts

This is what a close election looks like: 1,209,188 vs 1,209,183 at the time of writing. You can also have a look at what the contested ballots look like.
In other news on the Minnesota ballot changes, Nate Silver notes that the Canvassing Board thinks Brett Favre is less likely to be a real person than [...]

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Opposition

Hey, look – there’s a political party that is asking the Government to answer questions that would justify its policy. Presumably, this party might base its decision about whether to support or oppose the legislation based on the satisfaction they get from the answers.
By the way, did you know Kevin Rudd is a bit odd?
UPDATE: [...]

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Obstruction numero uno

Steve Fielding:
The Federal Government’s luxury car tax bill has been defeated in the Senate after Family First Senator Steve Fielding and the Opposition combined to vote against it.
…
“The Government could do something if they wanted to to get this measure through,” he said.
“There’s no way that Family First can vote for a bill that’s going [...]

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Site updates, enhancements, and moves

No, not here. At other places.
OpenAustralia now has Senate coverage.
The Greens Senators now have their new home.
And in good old post-Olympic fashion, Possum Comitatus is turning pro.
And what about the traditional media? The Australian and the other News sites still have their same shitty systems. Moderation queues that move in highly mysterious. No trackbacks. And [...]

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Interesting times?

Apparently Team Brendan are going to put their foot down in the Senate. After the interminable stream of media bullshit during the winter recess, I would like to see a legitimate debate about the issues in the upper house. If the Coalition can articulate a meaningful case, good luck to them. If they fail to [...]

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New Senate Order

I don’t want to let the passing of the Democrats go without mention, but their contribution has been covered in just about every political blog and newspaper column over the past fortnight. Suffice to say, I suspect that I am like many people – I voted for the Democrats sometimes, and didn’t vote for them [...]

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I’d have said ‘Howard-esque’

As expected – the claim and counter-claim about whether all legislation should be rammed through without parliamentary oversight or should be held up needlessly gets underway.
ELSEWHERE: Some commentary from Tim Dunlop – it’s interesting that Joe Hockey is happy to acknowledge that “payback” is part of the motivation for trying to stall legislation.

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