Vote numbers, Part II

Republican recount attorney Tony Trimble said Monday told of a wide change in the vote margin between Republican Tom Emmer and Democrat Mark Dayton in the gubernatorial fight.

"I believe there were some 9,200 votes separating the candidates and now that number is down to 8,600. So there have been shifts going on as the counties across the state are reviewing their numbers. Uniquely the net gain everyday has been to the Emmer campaign," Trimble said Monday.

Emmer repeated that idea Tuesday. "It is interesting that since 10 a.m. last Wednesday we have done nothing but close the gap," he said.

It is true that Emmer has gained on Dayton slightly since Wednesday but not by any amount as large as Trimble laid out.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday Nov. 3, just as Republican Party chair Tony Sutton was delivering his "We are not going to get rolled again" quote, Dayton did have a more than 9,000-vote lead.

According to a piece posted shortly thereafter: "Dayton had 912,442 votes, for 43.66 percent. Emmer's total was 902,609 for 43.19 percent."

That's a 9,833 vote lead for Dayton.

It says: "The race was too close to call this morning, with 100 out of more than 4,000 precincts left to report."

Comparing any current lead to a lead from before all the precincts were reported is not an apples to apples comparison.

A more dead on comparison comes when you compare the vote total now and that once all the precincts were checked in.

Once all the precincts reported Wednesday at 4 p.m. Nov. 3, Dayton had a lead of 8,854.

According to the Secretary of State's Web site at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, Dayton's lead is 8,755.