With Al comes a majority.

The Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that Al Franken is the winner of the long and drawn out battle with Norm Coleman for the Senate. Coleman called Franken to concede, and Franken later noted to a reporter that the conversation was “heartfelt.” I’m sure it was.

More importantly, thanks to the defection of Arlen Specter from R to D earlier this year, Franken is seat 60 for the Democrats, giving them the largest majority in the Senate since 1978. This means that the Dems can now block Republican filibusters, making Democratic movement through the Senate as easy as a warm knife through soft butter.

Sort of. Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd have been quite sick lately (although Byrd was just released from hospital). They must be present in order for the Dems to block a filibuster, so that may come down (unfortunately) to the health of Senator Kennedy.

Similarly, some moderate Democrats may not side with the rest of the party all of the time, and if they don’t Republican filibuster is possible. However, to this end, party unity is the only question. If the moderates can be convinced, it’s in the bag – so long as Kennedy is in attendance.

It’ll be interesting to see how much we can get done now….