After a third day of reviewing disputed ballots in the Senate race between GOP incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken, the difference is just TWO votes.

Each one has over 1.2 million votes, but now the margin is in the single digits.

Some news organizations in Minnesota say that Franken will be the likely winner by less than 100 votes, which would obviously lead to possible legal wrangling after the recount is finished.

Further delaying a final count was a ruling on Thursday from the Minnesota Supreme Court, which will set up conditions on how to count about 1,600 absentee ballots that were previously rejected.

All those ballots can be challenged by the two campaigns as well. Those won't be checked evidently until the New Year.

That means there might not a resolution of this election by the time the Senate convenes on January 6.

As of now, Democrats have 58 votes in the U.S. Senate next year. It may well be that Franken will make it 59 at some point over the next few weeks.