Governor’s race demands recount
Pawlenty extents stay in mansion
By Andrew Pooch
The results came in tallying close to two million and the result left Mark Dayton with a 10,000-vote lead over Tom Emmer that accounted for less than one percent difference. This automatically triggered a recount.
Polling since the primaries has displayed a toss-up between Emmer and Dayton. This only predicted that there would be no heavy favorite entering the election. Nate Silver, creator of the popular poll FiveThirtyEight, predicted the race to be very tight, but Dayton had a large percentage chance of winning. Now Dayton is reported to have 43.7 percent and Emmer 43.3 percent.
The close vote will initiate a recount, which is very recent in the memories of Minnesotans. In 2008, the Senator race was close enough to have a hand-tallying recount which left the senate seat unoccupied for eight months.
With such a tight margin of victory, many analysts have been pondering if Dayton won the election by accomplishments or had Emmer lost from campaign blunders.
This election bucked the trend throughout the nation. Many races saw republicans bump off democratic candidates. The change was seen coming since this summer, when Obama’s approval rating fell. Around the nation, democrats were blamed for his failures and sought republican replacements hoping for change.
Politics in Minnesota reported that many political observers attribute the outcome to Emmer’s weaknesses as a candidate. “I’m sure there’s a lot of second-guessing among Republican leaders about Emmer’s candidacy,” said Dan Hofrenning, a professor of political science at St. Olaf College. “In such a Republican year, I’m sure they’re kicking themselves.”
Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College, sees the results similarly. “You had a historical Republican sweep here on a lot of levels of the ballot, but not the governor’s race,” Schier said. “It really indicates a tremendous lost opportunity for the Republicans.”
Media outlets throughout Minnesota chose not to endorse Dayton or Emmer. This focus took votes away from the republicans and the democrats. Tom Horner, the independent candidate accounted for nearly 12 percent of the vote according to FiveThirtyEight poll. This took many votes away from the two dominant parties.
Currently Dayton has been declared the winner. After the recount, Minnesotans will know who the next governor will be. If Dayton comes out victorious, Minnesota will have its first DFL governor in 24 years.
“The voters have spoken,” said Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley to Politics in Minnesota. “I just wish someone could tell me what they said.”
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