Election expert: Stein + recounts = 'Look at me!'

The recount effort, led by Green Party candidate Jill Stein and joined by Hillary Clinton's campaign, marched on in three states, based partly on the Stein campaign's unsubstantiated assertion that cyber-hacking could have interfered with electronic voting machines.

"Hillary Clinton and the media were the first to suggest that when Donald Trump said that he would wait to see on election night whether the election was fair before he would ask for a recount, they lambasted him and said that that was a threat to our democracy. Now they're doing their best to weaken him before his hand even rests on the Bible to take the oath of office." Gary Bauer, founder Campaign for Working Families Viguerie "[Trump's opponents are] doing what they accused him of doing – but that's what Democrats do: they're in a permanent war room. And you know, it more or less has worked for them so that's all it's about. It's much to do about nothing and I think we shouldn't pay much attention to it." Richard Viguerie, chairman Conservative HQ

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, says "it's really foolishness on Jill Stein's part" to press for recounts.

"Clearly I think she's doing it not because she believes it'll change the election outcome, but so she can raise money and get more attention," he stated during an interview Monday on American Family Radio.

"And how do we know that? Look, in Wisconsin where she has filed a petition for recount, Donald Trump won by over 1.4 million votes. She got around 30,000 votes. So there is absolutely no chance whatsoever that a recount is going to change the results and bring her to a point where she could win – and that's the only reason that losing candidates ask for recounts: when the margin of victory is so slim that a recount could possibly change the election result. That's clearly not going to happen here."

He maintains that Democratic donors are funding Stein's efforts.

"If you check her filings with the Federal Election Commission, she's only raised a little under $3 million for her entire presidential campaign," he offered. "Yet the latest reports are that she's raised ... upwards of $6 million for this."

But could a recount help Mrs. Clinton? Von Spakovsky again looks to the Wisconsin results in his response.

"If the margin of victory between Trump and Clinton were a lot closer – you know, if it was 1,000 votes, 2,000 votes ... yeah, I could see doing a recount," he said. "But the difference between Trump and Clinton [in Wisconsin] is about 30,000 votes at last count. You are not going to change 30,000 votes in a recount."

Wisconsin officials approved plans to begin a recount as early as Thursday. Stein also asked for a recount in Pennsylvania and was expected to do the same in Michigan, where officials certified Trump's victory Monday. Trump has denounced the recounts.

UPDATE ... from Associated Press ... A hearing has been scheduled on a Green Party-backed request for a court-ordered recount of Pennsylvania's Nov. 8 presidential election, won by Republican Donald Trump. The order for a Dec. 5 hearing came a day after the campaign of failed Green Party candidate Jill Stein filed the request.