Sun News

Al Franken should be sitting in the United States Senate today. But, instead, he's got one more court hearing -- this one is the big one. The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear Norm Coleman's last-ditch effort to win in the courts what he couldn't win at the ballot box:

Now it comes down to five votes.

Almost seven months after a U.S. Senate election that was too close to call, five justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether problems with absentee ballots justify reversing a lower-court ruling that declared DFLer Al Franken a 312-vote winner over Republican Norm Coleman.

Partisans across America will be watching, pronouncing judgment on a thousand blogs. The case may cast a blinding national spotlight on the state Supreme Court.

A decision upholding the lower-court ruling could end the protracted struggle and allow Franken to join the Senate, giving Democrats an invincible majority. A ruling for Coleman wouldn't return him to the Senate, but could keep his hopes alive and delay a final decision for months.

Minnesotans want the dispute to end, recent polls show. Most people say Coleman should concede. Nearly two-thirds believe that Franken ultimately will be declared the winner.

Coleman is fighting this battle at the behest of Republican leaders in D.C. They don't want Democrats to have a 60th vote. That matters to the GOP and they've been funding Coleman and his lawsuits for the past seven months.

Coleman should have conceded already. He has the burden of proof to show the lower courts were wrong. It's a high hurdle. We'll monitor what the court watchers are saying after oral arguments and hope for a good decision soon.