Minnesota Senate Recount -- update 13

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Wait... what? It's still going on? It's not over yet? Yup.

It's been quite some time since our last few updates from early January -- and you can find all of our Minnesota-related posts here -- but, desipte the inevitable inevitabiliyt of it all, there's still no Senator Franken.

At long last, though, it's almost over. Almost:

Norm Coleman's lawyers all but conceded defeat Tuesday and promised to appeal after a panel of three judges ordered no more than 400 new absentee ballots opened and counted, far fewer than the Republican had sought to overcome the lead held by DFLer Al Franken.

The ballots include many that Franken had identified as wrongly rejected as well as ballots that Coleman wanted opened in his quest to overcome the 225-vote lead that Franken gained after a recount in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race.

"We are very pleased," said Franken lead lawyer Marc Elias shortly after the ruling, which calls for ballots to be opened next week.

Oh, but that was just a battle, not the war, and Coleman may yet take his fight to the next level, the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Maybe now would be a good time for the media to start paying a bit more attention to Coleman's other ongoing legal problems.