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Fear and Loathing

By Nicole Russell on 12.21.08 @ 3:29PM

is really starting to take hold for many Minnesotans right about now. For what I believe is the first time this election, Team Franken is actually predicting a win by a pretty specific amount of votes, between 35-50. Before, they were just saying they would win because that's what campaigns do. Now, they're acting, at least, pretty sure about this (though of course it's not final and Coleman is still claiming victory too).

Allahpundit at Hot Air:

How can Franken predict victory when there are still 5,000 withdrawn challenges to count? Because: (a) the Star-Tribune's readers have been looking at and voting on those challenges for weeks and their polling puts him 40 votes ahead when all's said and done; and (b) per Nate Silver's latest analysis, Team Franken's signaled in the past that it knows there aren't enough Coleman votes in its own withdrawn challenges to put Coleman over the top. (If that sounds confusing, read Silver and it'll make sense.)

Nate Silver has all the nitty gritty details here.