The great thing about the internet is that it allows us to access so much more information about important news events, and the Minnesota Senate recount is one such opportunity.

Just like in Florida eight years ago, elections officials are painstakingly going through thousands and thousands of ballots, looking for any that might have been miscounted.

The campaigns of both incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat (and comedian) Al Franken have all kinds of legal eagles looking out for spoiled ballots.

One place to keep track of the count is from the
Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, which has a great web page that is tracking the latest adjusted counts in the race.

When I looked at it on Thursday, the recount showed both Coleman and Franken had lost votes, but Franken had lost fewer, so he was now only 157 votes behind.

Also, kudos to the folks over at Minnesota Public Radio, which put together a great web page with examples of the ballots that have been challenged.   You can vote on themselves yourself to see how you match up against others.

This recount won't be over until probably mid-December.  And that's if there aren't any legal battles.

Fat chance on that, eh?