Choke on the history, America: After 62 days of counts and recounts, a Saturday Night Live alumnus has officially been elected to represent an actual state in the US Senate.

The Minnesota Canvassing Board today announced that Franken's typically self-affirming holiday prophecy has been realized: The satirist defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by a total of 225 votes out of 2.9 million cast, sending him to Washington in just enough time to make the new session of Congress tomorrow.

Coleman's camp stuck a knife in the moving van's tires, meanwhile, arguing that the outgoing senator was treated unfairly and announcing it would file suit Tuesday for the inclusion of 654 absentee ballots left out of the most recent recount. Alas, it's too late; we aren't too keen on opening the door for a Tracy Morgan Congressional campaign either, but a new era has proven that democracy's bells just can't be unrung.