Minnesota is facing the prospects of yet another recount as the gubernatorial race between pro-life Republican Tom Emmer and pro-abortion Democrat Mark Dayton is heading that direction.
Dayton holds a slim lead of just 8,775 votes and that’s too small a margin for him to declare victory or Emmer to concede defeat.
That could push the state into the same kind of hand-counted recount Senate candidates Norm Coleman, the pro-lifer, and pro-abortion Sen. Al Frank faced in their 2008 election and it could take weeks, or months, to complete.
Under state law, the sitting governor, Tim Pawlenty, who is pro-life and a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, must continue to hold office to guide the state if the recount heads past January 3, 2011. Pawlenty has already agreed to stay on if needed.
“We’ve heard from the voters – we just don’t know what they said yet,” Pawlenty said at a press conference.
According to an AP report, 3,021 absentee ballots were rejected so Emmer has to find votes from someplace else or Minnesotans will wind up with an abortion advocate replacing their longtime pro-life governor — who oversaw a reduction in abortion thanks in part to the Positive Alternatives program he supported.
Dayton said he will be willing to allow the recount process to play out before declaring victory, but he has already named, according to AP, two veterans of the Franken recount team to his gubernatorial campaign staff.
The close results are not surprising given the fact that final polls put the two candidates as tied at 37 percent.
For Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, executive director Scott Fischbach had said only Emmer is pro-life and he urged pro-life voters to support him.
“This race is crystal clear — only Tom Emmer supports life and it is more important than ever to re-double our efforts to get Tom Emmer elected,” he told LifeNews.com last month.
“The number of abortions have dropped 14% while Governor Pawlenty has been in office and with Tom Emmer as Governor that trend can continue,” Fischbach explained. “Both Mark Dayton and Tom Horner are radical supporters of abortion on demand — we have to wore tirelessly to make sure that the babies and the moms are protected by election Tom Emmer as Governor.”
The Planned Parenthood abortion business endorsed Dayton.
