In what may finally be the end of the longest post election court battle that Minnesotans can remember, the state’s Supreme Court today ruled that Democrat, and former Saturday Night Live actor, Al Franken be certified as the winner of last November’s Senate race. Incumbent Republican Norm Coleman has spent millions fighting a recount of the election that saw his slim margin of victory dwindle, then vanish to what seems surely, is now a victory for Al Franken.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, also a Republican and a possible candidate for President in 2012, said he would sign the certification of the election if ordered to by the court. Although the court’s ruling today, “stopped short of explicitly ordering the governor to sign the document, saying only that Franken was “entitled” to it,” Governor Pawlenty’s signature is likely to seat Franken as Minnesota’s second Senator.

Coleman’s appeal hinged largely on whether thousands of absentee votes had been unfairly rejected by local election officials around the state.

The unanimous court wrote that “because the legislature established absentee voting as an optional method of voting, voters choosing to use that method are required to comply with the statutory provisions.”

They went on to say that “because strict compliance with the statutory requirements for absentee voting is, and always has been required, there is no basis on which voters could have reasonably believed that anything less than strict compliance would suffice.”

The White House hailed the ruling, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying, “We’re pleased!” Although I wasn’t there, I’m sure Gibbs repsonse was delivered with that tinge of giddy excitement that only teen aged girls at a Hanna Montana concert and Democrats who just cheated their way to a stronger hold on power can deliver.

So America, get ready for another Democrat in the Senate, bolstering their filibuster-proof majority, and (considering Franken’s background), providing Minnesotans with a few CSPAN moments that make them ask, “Did we really elect this guy?”.