Should we be preparing to say "Senator Franken"?

From TPMElectionCafe:

Franken Gets Big Win At Canvass Board
By Eric Kleefeld - December 12, 2008, 11:48AM

Al Franken's chances of winning the Minnesota recount may have just gone up astronomically.

The state canvassing board just voted unanimously that absentee ballots that were initially rejected because of clerical errors -- and the current estimate from the hearing is that there could be nearly 1,600 of them, based on some extrapolation -- should be counted, probably the single biggest issue that the Franken campaign has been hammering ever since this recount began, and which really seemed up in the air going into this hearing.

The board can't directly order the county officials to do the counting, only making a formal request to go back and count the votes and then submit amended totals. But many counties have already begun or finished the process of sorting the rejected absentees at the board's request, and board members did castigate any election officials who wouldn't do so, with some of them even leaving open the option of seeking a court order if necessary.

Because of all that, it seems very likely that the vast majority of these ballots will be counted before this is over -- and it could possibly seal the deal for Franken. Pre-election polling showed him winning the overall pool of absentee ballots by a solid margin, so it seems pretty reasonable to assume that the newly-counted votes will break for Al. If that proves to be correct -- and if Norm Coleman is unable to stop it through further litigation -- Franken will probably pull ahead of Coleman and win the election.

Late Update: To be clear, we're watching the hearing over here on a streaming video feed.

Late Late Update: State Atty. Gen. Lori Swanson (D) just gave her advisory opinion on another very big issue, whether absentee ballots that appear to have been improperly rejected should be put back in the count. Swanson told the board that they have the authority to request (but not order) that counties meet again to count those ballots. If the board sides with Swanson, this could be a huge boost to Franken, as he had a good-sized lead among the overall absentee ballots, and introducing new votes into the count would probably net him some more in the total.

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