From The Colbert Report:

The Minnesota Supreme Court rushes to declare Al Franken the winner of the Senate race after only seven months.

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Al Franken's press conference following Norm Coleman's concession. I think Al's going to be one of the good guys. Who knows what Coleman's motivation was for conceding so quickly after the Minnesota Supreme Court finally made its ruling. A governor's run in the horizon perhaps? I'm just glad he finally did it. Welcome to the Senate Al.

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From The Cafferty File:

Minnesota still hasn’t decided the outcome of its Senate race more than six months since Election Day, and the stakes are higher than ever. With the defection of Arlen Specter from the Republican Party, Minnesota’s race takes on a whole new meaning.

If Al Franken wins, he’ll become the 60th Democratic senator and the party will have a filibuster-proof majority. This would likely help President Obama get through his upcoming Supreme Court nominee along with big initiatives like health care.

Vice President Joe Biden met with Franken this week and said the administration looks forward to working with him once Minnesota’s Supreme Court issues its final ruling. That’s where the race is now tied up.

A three-judge panel ruled Franken is the winner, but Norm Coleman won’t go away. He has asked for a recount of at least 1,300 ballots. Coleman is trailing Franken by 312 votes. Coleman’s appeal could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court; even though some in the Republican Party concede it’s not looking good for him.

By all accounts, it seems likely that Al Franken — a former comedian who appeared on Saturday Night Live and a former liberal radio host — will win. One Democratic consultant and a friend of Franken says it’s ironic for a comedian to carry so much power, but “Franken is certainly comfortable with irony.”

Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that a comedian will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate?

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[YouTube] h/t Political Carnival

A profile in yesterday's Minnesota Star Tribune on how Al Franken is handling the endless delay before he's seated in the U.S. Senate.

"A lot of people ask me and Franni [his wife], 'Are you OK?'" Franken said, his face crumpling into a caricature of someone inquiring after one's health. "As life's challenges go, this is pretty low on the totem pole. Our kids are OK, we're not in danger of losing our home to foreclosure. We're fine."

Statements such as this from the always execrable Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on the continued obstruction from the GOP would tend to give one pause.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is threatening “World War III” if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts.

Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledges that a federal challenge to November’s elections could take “years” to resolve. But he’s adamant that Coleman deserves that chance — even if it means Minnesota is short a senator for the duration.

As it stands now, the Minnesota Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case brought by the Coleman campaign to overturn the recount result sometime in June.

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Adria Richards on The Rachel Maddow Show last night. Below is her own video uploaded to YouTube earlier this week.

I was the one who found the database which was sitting right out there in a website directory. No hacking was required and the only tool I used was my Firefox web browser.

Although an IT Professional by trade, Adria Richards explains how even a 5th grader could have gained access to ex-Sen Norm Coleman's website, a story initially grossly misreported in the mainstream media ("Hacker steals Coleman donor data"). Or the sheer mindlessness of conspiracy theorists such as John Hinderaker: Liberal Hackers at it again. There is now talk that the Coleman campaign may face charges for not securing their donors credit card information properly, and rightly so.

January 27, 2009 News Corp

First the back story:

I've been told by two sources that [local businessman and political contributor Nasser] Kazeminy has in the past covered the bills for Coleman's lavish clothing purchases at Nieman Marcus in Minneapolis. The sources were not certain of the dates of the purchases; if they were made before Coleman joined the Senate in 2003, he obviously would not be required to report it under senate rules. But having a private businessman pay for your clothing is never a good idea if you're a public official (Coleman was mayor of St. Paul from 1994 to 2002).

When pressed by reporters Wednesday on whether or not Coleman, in fact, accepted these suits from Kazeminy, spokesman Cullen Sheehan repeats the phrase "the Senator has reported every gift he has ever received" no fewer than nine times.

HuffPo has the excruciating transcript.

Ouch. Isn't it really a simple "yes or no?" question? No wonder Coleman is running around blaming the evil bloggers and canceling press conferences.

Also remember that Coleman was busted earlier for getting a sweetheart rental deal on his pad down in DC. Does the guy pay for anything?

The best news, of course, is that this all helps Al Franken, who has drawn the Minnesota Senate race to a dead-heat. Go show him some love if you can spare it.