Minnesota Senate Recount -- update 15

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Well... it's over:

After a trial spanning nearly three months, Norm Coleman's attempt to reverse Al Franken's lead in the recount of the U.S. Senate election was soundly rejected today by a three-judge panel that dismissed the Republican's lawsuit.

The judges swept away Coleman's argument that the election and its aftermath were fraught with systemic errors that made the results invalid.

"The overwhelming weight of the evidence indicates that the Nov. 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially and accurately," the panel said in its unanimous decision.

Or not. Coleman may yet appeal the decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Hopefully he won't, though -- even some conservatives want him to concede (for his own good, for the party's good), and he may just have one last chance to bow out gracefully.

It's time for this long national nightmare -- well, okay, it hasn't been that dramatic -- to end.

(For an excellent overview of the "dispute," including of what might happen next, see this post at Election Law Blog. For all of our Minnesota-related posts, most of them on Franken-Coleman, see here.)