Democrat Al Franken now leads by 225 votes after adding 176 votes when absentee ballots were counted today in Minnesota

By Joe Sudbay DC

This wasn't such a slow political news day after all.

Via the very cool site, TheUptake.org, I just watched the count of 933 absentee ballots in the Minnesota Senate race. Al Franken did much better than what most observers expected, picking up 176 votes. His lead over Republican Norm Coleman jumped from 49 votes to 225 votes.

The results still have to be certified. But, this looks good for Franken -- and it will be good to have another true progressive in the Senate.

Republican Norm Coleman is going to try to drag this out in the courts. And, his GOP pals in the Senate have threatened to play their usual games. But, it does look like the voters will have made the decision and the voters picked Franken. Not by much, but a win is a win.

I'm so glad Coleman is going to lose. He never should have won back in 2002. You'll recall he won the seat occupied by Paul Wellstone only after the Senator and his wife, along with several others, died in a plane crash shortly before the election.