Senator In Exile

Al Franken went to Washington yesterday, despite his imminent entry into the Senate being held up by legal battles. Norm Coleman is now in full-scale "count every ballot" mode despite wanting to shut down the recount when he was ahead. And considering that Franken has won absentee ballots at every step, counting the remaining ones isn't likely to help Coleman either.

It's time to end this, and Harry Reid is vowing to try.

"We're going to try to seat Al Franken," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters on Wednesday, a few hours before he posed with Franken for photos just off the Senate floor. "There's not a question in anyone's mind, an assertion by anyone, that there's been any fraud or wrongdoing in this election."

Coleman's lawyers are challenging the results of the election and the re-count in a trial set to begin in state district court on Monday. A three-judge panel that will hear the case is considering Franken's argument to dismiss it altogether.

Franken finished the re-count ahead by 225 votes. But Coleman's campaign said it will push for a review of all 12,000 absentee ballots that were not counted in the race. Coleman's attorneys said the new proposal could bring as many as 7,000 ballots to the race.

As mentioned above, Franken is pushing for a quick dismissal of Coleman's lawsuit and allowing the Senate, typically the judge of elections for its members, to decide the winner or at least seat someone provisionally. It's about time to end the obstruction and let Minnesota have full representation in Congress.