Minn. board takes a crack at 1,500 contested ballots in Senate race

MINNEAPOLIS - Trying to resolve the last undecided US Senate race, members of a Minnesota state board started their work gingerly yesterday, squinting at contested ballots as they tried to figure out what some voters intended in the race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken.

The state canvassing board - made up of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, two state Supreme Court justices, and two Ramsey County judges - began inspecting as many as 1,500 contested ballots one by one, hoping to finish by Friday.

Coleman leads Franken by 188 votes from more than 2.9 million ballots cast on Nov. 4. A Franken win would give Democrats 59 seats, when two independents who align with Democrats are included.

By Monday, both campaigns had pledged to abandon many of the challenges lodged during the recount. The Coleman campaign said it would keep fewer than 1,000 of its challenges, while the Franken campaign said it would retain fewer than 500. Besides the challenged ballots, legal wrangling continues over an estimated 1,600 absentee ballots that were improperly rejected on Election Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBUQUERQUE - A federal grand jury is investigating how a California firm that contributed to the political activities of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the nominee to head the Commerce Department, won a lucrative government contract.

A person familiar with the proceedings said yesterday that the panel is looking into possible "pay-to-play" dealings between CDR Financial Products and someone in a position to push the contract through with the State of New Mexico. The proceedings follow an FBI probe in which investigators sought documents from the New Mexico Finance Authority. Investigators also interviewed former and current authority officials about New Mexico's 2004 contract with CDR for the $1.6 billion transportation program.

Richardson ignored two shouted questions about the company at his afternoon news conference in Santa Fe and left the room. Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos did not confirm the grand jury probe but said the governor's office is "aware of questions surrounding some financial transactions at the New Mexico Finance Authority."

CDR was part of a team of investment and financial advisers selected by the authority to piece together a complex bond financing deal for a highway and transportation construction program. Richardson won legislative approval for that program in 2003. CDR and its CEO, David Rubin, have contributed at least $110,000 to three political committees formed by Richardson, according to a review of campaign finance records.

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CHICAGO - A dozen elementary school students got their own chance to quiz President-elect Barack Obama yesterday, getting an earful on such issues as longer school days and how it feels to be on television.

"How will you feel when you move to the White House?" one child asked.

"I'm going to be excited," Obama said, explaining that he would have a "pretty nice office" in the shape of an oval when he got to Washington.

Obama, joined by Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Arne Duncan, the head of the Chicago school system and Obama's pick for education secretary, took more questions from the children than he did from reporters.

The youngsters, who ranged from first-graders to fourth-graders, sat on the carpet in the Dodge Renaissance Academy's library, eagerly raising their hands to ask questions and discuss what they were learning in school.

"Decimals! Wow, Joe doesn't even know his decimals," Obama joked about Biden.

Not all the children's questions were lighthearted. In reply to a child who said a cousin was serving in Iraq, Obama said, "One of the things that I promised I would do is to try to bring this war in Iraq to an end."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

There are two wars, and the economy is in the tank, but the big issue for some is where the next president and vice president are getting their puppies.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden just bought a German shepherd from a breeder in Pennsylvania, angering animal rights activists who say he should have set a better example and found a pup at a shelter.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is running a controversial TV ad in Biden's hometown of Wilmington, Del., that blames people who buy from pet shops and breeders for the deaths of 4 million animals a year that are not adopted from shelters. In the TV spot, a breeder throws a body bag onto his desk and tell a family, "Here's the dog you just killed."

Animal rights activists are now looking to President-elect Barack Obama, who says he wants to adopt a "mutt like me" from a shelter, but might be constrained because his daughter Malia has allergies.

Obama told school children in Chicago yesterday that his daughters have "been asking for a dog for years now," but would need to take care of their pet. "You know, if they do their business, if they've got some poop - you got to make sure that you're not just leaving it there," Obama said.

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