The Minnesota Canvassing Board is expected tomorrow to declare Democrat Al Franken the winner of the state's U.S. Senate election by a margin of 225 votes:
It took only an hour Saturday afternoon for election officials to count 933 absentee ballots that all sides had agreed were wrongly rejected. Franken won 52 percent of them and Coleman captured 33 percent (the rest went to other candidates or cast no vote in the Senate race). It was a surprisingly muscular margin that was reflected in the glum looks of Coleman staffers and the satisfied appearance of Franken's staff.
Franken started the day with an unofficial lead of 49 votes. He achieved a net gain of 176 votes on Saturday.
Republican Norm Coleman vowed to fight on, even though other Senators have already accepted Franken's victory.
That, I believe, is 59, once future Illinois Governor Pat Quinn appoints a Democrat to Obama's seat.