Franken wins! Or does he?

December 19, 6:24 PMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

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In the ironic drama that is Minnesota politics, Al Franken has not only grabbed a 250 vote lead but is being projected by sources to be the victor of the Minnesota Senate race after more than a month of confusion. Even better, the Associated Press is predicting the confusion to go on into 2009 because this just is not fun enough.

So, here is what is happening in the unnecesarily complicated world of Minnesota politics:

The Minnesota Canvassing Board, today, continued to rule on the challenges that the Franken and Coleman made to hundreds upon hundreds of ballots, ruling on issues of "voter intent" (remember Florida?). Luckily while the concept of hanging chads did not arise, things like imposing a voter IQ test did as various doodles and ridiculous write-in votes (Lizard People? Really? That's almost as silly as that time that Minnesota elected Jesse Ventura to be Governor...twice!) were scrutinized by exhausted Minnesotans charged with the task.

After a tireless effort, the Board recessed until Monday with Franken now leading by around 250 votes, approximately a 465 vote change from election day's results when Norm Coleman had led Franken by 188-215 votes (depending on who you ask) and then slamming the Franken campaign for not refusing a recount in which the tides have shifted dramatically over the past two days.

So...where do we go from here?

Well for one, dozens of has-been D-list celebrities will be rushing to Minnesota to run for major public office just as Jesse Ventura and Al Franken have done successfully, not so much hoping to govern, just to get a guest spot on CSI.

But seriously. On Monday the Canvassing Board will add to the vote count the challenges that have been dropped by the two campaigns. The move is expected to lift Coleman's count some, but he would still be trailing the ex-SNL star. The Minnesota Star-Tribune predicts that Franken will remain ahead by 75 votes. But what does anyone really know?

Secondly, many lawsuits will be cast. Mostly by Norm Coleman whose lawyer has all but moved into the courthouse. With much litigation to decide what should be done about various ballots, this one is going to be the longest race since the recently over Presidential race. And that race started when Obama graduated Harvard!

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is considering appointing an interim Senator until the race has been decided. While it is unsure if the Governor even has the authority to do that, Tim Meadows and Chris Kattan have already begun lobbying for the spot.

Based on the general attitudes of the two campaigns, at the end of the day, the very long day, Al Franken will come out the victor of this train wreck of an election and move on into relative obscurity, sitting next to Amy Klobuchar. Who? Exactly.

Full Coverage of the past month of events:

Minnesota Update: Franken in the lead

With Georgia Lost, Dems turn to Minnesota

Franken Inches Closer to Win