The American Spectator

In Minnesota the Democrat gubernatorial candidate, former Sen. Mark “lock the doors” Dayton, led most of the night. So I was surprised that Republican Tom Emmer (who was “Targeted” by the homosexual lobby) came within a whisker of catching him — enough to probably require an automatic recount. Are we in for another Al Franken-Norm Coleman-type prolonged drama? The Star-Tribune reports:

With all but two of the state’s 4,136 precincts reporting, Democrat Mark Dayton led Republican Tom Emmer by 8,914 votes, well within the margin of one-half on 1 percentage points that automatically triggers a recount under state law….

The GOP immediately signaled that the party will be far more aggressive in the recount battle than it was last time around.

Stopping just short of alleging voter fraud on Tuesday, Chairman Tony Sutton flatly predicted: “Once all the votes are properly accounted for, it will show that Tom Emmer was elected governor.

“We are concerned about the fact that there were many discrepancies last night.”

Sutton noted that Hennepin County made a 400,000-vote mistake, which caused a 60,000-vote swing in governor’s race….

He added: “Something doesn’t smell right when you take control of the state House, you take control of the state Senate, we win Congressional districts, folks, and yet somehow, somehow, we don’t win the governor’s race.”

Sutton said the GOP “won’t get out-lawyered” in a recount, as many observers said it was in 2008.

Indeed, the initiation of the state’s “Election Integrity Watch” program may prove to be important, despite Rep. Keith Ellison’s resistance.