A couple of quick notes on events surrounding the Minnesota recount are in order.  First, if you haven’t taken the MPR ballot review poll that Allahpundit posted earlier, don’t miss it.  If nothing else, it will remind you that even a system as cut-and-dried as our optical-scan system isn’t idiot-proof.

Next, just to remind people who’s behind Franken, the New York Post reports on a major fundraiser for Franken’s recount efforts:

Left-wing billionaire financier George Soros is using his financial muscle at a Manhattan fund-raiser tonight to help Al Franken win a recount in Minnesota’s Senate election.

Soros – the hedge-fund honcho and sugar daddy of the Democratic Party – will host a soirée for Franken at his Carnegie Hill digs to help cover the candidate’s costs to monitor the statewide recount.

Soros may be golden, but so is silence, according to Team Franken:

“When approached by a reporter, a Franken supporter showed a slip of paper indicating a gag order by the campaign, referring all questions to the Franken campaign in St. Paul.” Source: Bemidji Pioneer, November 20, 2008

“Ray Hoover, the Franken campaign’s Stearns County site coordinator, said neither he nor Franken volunteers could comment publicly on the day’s events.

After Bill Starr’s reference to “minority people” being unable to deal with the difficult task of filling in circles on a ballot, that’s probably not a bad policy.  Too much truth-telling about tactics and strategy could make it difficult for Franken to win an election through lawsuits later on.

Gonna be a long few weeks.  Don’t expect much real news until the recount is finished.