Franken is the Official Winner -- Unofficially

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com The Minnesota State Canvassing Board confirmed on Monday that Al Franken has won his Senate election, ending a weeks-long recount process that started with the Democratic challenger facing a roughly 215-vote deficit. The final tally left Franken with 1,212,431 votes to Sen. Norm Coleman's 1,212,206 votes, a 0.0077 percent margin of victory. But while the canvassing board's ruling marked a cap to a long and wild election, it did not secure Franken's spot in the United States Senate. Even as state officials were finalizing ballot numbers, Norm Coleman's campaign was making preparations to legally challenge the results. "The canvassing board has officially accepted the election numbers as official," an aide told the Huffington Post. "The margin is not going to change anymore."

The problem is that, according to Minnesota law, nothing can be certified while legal challenges are still in the works. It's hard to find fault with that -- it seems like a pretty common sense provision to me. But it's frustrating as all hell that the 2008 elections still aren't over.

Coleman's suit to bring in some 650 challenged ballots was turned down by the Minnesota Supreme Court, but is almost certain to be appealed to the federal level.

So, officially, we can start saying Senator Franken. But we can't say incumbent Senator Franken. Confusing? You bet.