Much of the political world is abuzz today with good news for the Franken camp out in Minnesota: after picking up a good chunk of votes in a single recounting session yesterday, something like 20% of the lead Coleman now holds, Franken aides seemed to feel that the outlook was brightening substantially. But that was only half the buzz. The other half concerned the lizard people.

You’re looking at one of the challenged ballots in question. You’ll note that it would seem to state two preferences: one for Franken, and one for “lizard people.” Enough to confuse any optical scanner.

So the issues, with this particular ballot, seem clear enough.

One, whom did the voter finally prefer, Franken or the man-lizard(s)? Two, why, after going to the trouble to write in a man-lizard, did the voter in question have second thoughts about blackening the reptilian box next to their handwritten entry? Was the lizard-thing in question suddenly too frightening a choice? If so, why so?

And three, if the man-lizard(s) was/were the intended candidate, how to attribute said vote? That is, which candidate can most credibly claim to be the spawn of human and lizard, and hence the recipient of the much-contested vote?

Beats the hell out of VDB.