Fat Lady Warming Up In Minnesota

Today the Minnesota Supreme Court denied flat Norm Coleman's lawsuit seeking to roll back certain precincts to pre-recount numbers because of a belief that certain ballot may or may not have been double-counted. If this is dealt with at all, it will be after the Canvassing Board has certified a winner.

This means that the only ballots in question before that certification are absentee ballots that were wrongly invalidated. Keep in mind that FRANKEN's campaign has sought to get those ballots counted, as the absentee ballots in general have favored him. The two campaigns, per court order, have to agree on a framework for counting those ballots, and the Supreme Court has offered an extension for that framework to be approved. There's been a tentative agreement on that framework, but it involves each campaign having a veto power over ballots, and the result is probably going to be with very few of those ballots getting counted. So I don't see how we move out of certification without Al Franken being awarded the seat.

What this whole process shows is how fragile and tenuous our election process really is. In close races like this, the flaws in the system are brought into view. That can't be changed for the purposes of this election, but should be a part of the future. Nevertheless, Franken's going to win this seat. Coleman's lawyers are talking about contesting the election, but their chances of succeeding are very, very slim.

Al Franken, D-MN.