Big news:

Democrat Al Franken today extended his lead over Republican Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate election, following the counting of about 350 formerly rejected absentee ballots this morning by a three-judge panel.

Unofficially, Franken took nearly 200 of the ballots, while Coleman added a little more than 100. The ballots added about 90 to Franken's recount lead, enlarging his margin over Coleman to more than 300.

The result makes it even more likely that, barring an unforeseen circumstance, Franken will prevail in the election lawsuit that Coleman filed in January to contest the Democrat's 225-vote recount lead. The court has not said when it will issue a final decision in the case.

With Norm Coleman's legal efforts in state courts largely unsuccessful (he still reserves the right to appeal to the state Supreme Court, though the current proceedings have dealt his candidacy serious setbacks) and his hopes in the federal courts even thinner, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel -- may be -- for Al Franken. More as we hear it, though...

Update [2009-4-7 13:27:9 by Todd Beeton]:Thanks, Norm! As a result of the former Senator's lawsuit, these ballots were opened and counted and the result reinforces what we've seen since election day: the more votes that are counted, the more Al Franken's lead grows. Tell Norm to give it up.