This is excellent news! Although I was hoping for a close Franken victory for purely personal reasons, I would be even more satisfied with a wider margin....

Coverage of this marathon recount (which if performed this way in Florida in 2000 would likely have given us Gore, rather than Bush and we never would have fallen asleep for this long national nightmare, but I digress) is handled comprehensively here.

On Nov. 4 I had a dream that my vote would be the one vote that put Al Franken over the top, beating the odious Norm Coleman.

My dream is closer to reality than I could have hoped for:

"The Franken campaign reached yet another conclusion -- Franken ahead by four votes -- by including a projection on 6,655 ballots challenged by both campaigns."

It makes my shrivelled little black heart swell, just the tinniest of bits.

Senate hopeful Al Franken refuses to admit that bickering liberal partisans and their divisive food fight with conservatives are a root cause of our country's problems:

"There's a new progressive majority that's emerging in this country.... We know what we want. We want universal healthcare, we want an economy that works for everybody, we want a green economy that creates jobs, we want a world-class education for all our kids, and we want to restore our standing in the world, and that means getting out of Iraq.

Doesn't he understand that no one wants to hear that kind of hate speech anymore?

Al and his team are very savvy, IMO, in forcing the hand of Bush water-carrier, Norm Coleman. If Coleman was just about to make the leap (and try to save his neck in the 2008 election), Franken's letter makes that a little harder (and points out the obvious: the Dems in the Senate cannot do this alone).

You may have heard that Al Franken has announced his candidacy for the Minnesota Senate seat. Go Al, I say. I listened to his AAR show a lot, he knows his stuff on the issues and he's not afraid to shove the wingnuts' talking points right back in their faces.

You may also have heard that Harry Shearer, who you may know as the shortest member of Spinal Tap and the voice of Mr. Smithers, among other things, has a weelkly radio show. Le Show rules. It's become a Sunday tradition in the Shystee household. Politics, music and teh funny.

Last week Harry did a bit impersonating Garrison Keillor in all his soporific glory, narrating a visit by "Dick Yinkel", an Al Franken stand in, to "Lake Reverie" Minnesota. Click here to listen to the bit.