Al Franken's campaign has been telling reporters that any vote for Barack Obama should count for a vote for Franken in his now-deadlocked recount with incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman.

Franken calls it an "undervote," meaning if a ballot is checked for Obama, but is "mistakingly" left blank for the Senate race, it should go to him. He may want to abandon this logic. The polling data in the run-up to the election shows otherwise.

His nasty brandy of campaigning against Coleman in state of "Minnesota nice" put him anywhere between 12 and 15 points BEHIND Obama.

The Minnesota Star-Tribue (the "Strib" as they call it, rhymes with "Trig") found only 68% of those who said they would vote for Obama were planning to vote for Franken in a survey conducted October 29-31---days before the election.

That's just one poll that busts Franken's undervote logic.

In story titled, "Split Decisions Could Be Key to Election" Strib reporter Patricia Lopez interviewed someone illustrating the case in point.

Larry Sherman says he's "100 percent sure" that he will vote for Barack Obama, one of the most liberal members of Congress, for president. But in the Senate race, he's going to choose U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican who is Obama's polar opposite on most issues.

"I just don't follow party lines," Sherman said. "I'm just voting for the best person for the job."