DRAGRA ad courtesy of Tild, Ollie Ox and Centristy

As expected, Al Franken came away from the counting of the last group of absentee ballots as the winner of the count and of the 2008 election for United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.  In fact, he increased his lead to 312 votes once all the ballots were opened and counted, as was shown on The UpTake.   (By the way:  The UpTake needs your help to make it past April.  Throw ‘em some coin if you can.)

The three-judge Election Contest Court has recessed for the day without issuing a ruling, but one is expected soon.  At that point, Norm has ten days to appeal their ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court, and then fifteen days from the MNSC’s agreeing to hear their case to submit it to the MNSC, which as WineRev notes could, if we’re very lucky, make a fast ruling and then issue the full opinion some weeks or months later.  Whatever happens, the date the Minnesota Supreme Court issues its ruling is the date the contest is over for purposes of issuing the election certificate, regardless of whether Norm takes it to the Feds.

Now, we all know that Norm’s only in it at this point to delay and stonewall, so we also know that he’s going to take as long as he’s allowed, both to request an appeal and to submit it to the court.  But the court will likely, once they get the case, move on it very quickly.