For about five seconds, it had the looks of a game-changing moment in Minnesota. Failed Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer announced he would be making a statement.
For about five seconds, hopes were raised that Emmer would decide to end with the absurd obstruction of contesting the election of Democrat Mark Dayton, whose current lead is wider than two gubernatorial races, and over a dozen House races. Perhaps, Emmer would depart a statesman and concede a race that he has quite obviously lost, given that a recount has never in American electoral history reversed an election result with a margin this wide.
Meh. Not so much.
Tom Emmer did not concede at a morning news conference but said, "I am not currently planning an election contest" in his bid to become Minnesota’s governor.
But he said the "integrity" of the election remains to be determined.
Note the juxtaposition of "not currently planning" to contest the results, while at the same time publicly questioning "the integrity" of the election.
Of course, that's all Emmer has left. With only two large, Democratic counties left to finish their recounts, Emmer's disadvantage of nearly 9000 votes has been cut by...70 votes. And that's not even considering the fact that most of the challenges (which, technically, aren't in the tally yet) are Dayton votes.
The bottom line: Emmer's path to "victory" doesn't exist, at least using mathematics. All he has left is to try to impugn the integrity of the election, a talent for which Minnesota Republicans have shown a particular aptitude.
At least, the state did get promised one concession from Team Emmer, as it looks like Emmer will withdraw many of the challenges that his campaign had made that were deemed "frivolous" by election officials.
Which means that, hopefully, the state canvassing board won't have to try to divine voter intent on ballots as difficult as this one:
If you want to see some of the less frivolous challenged ballots and play canvassing board judge, you can click here.
And, as always, for the latest on the ground in Minnesota, you can check out WineRev's continuing series of recount diaries.