Streaming video of the Minnesota canvassing board reviewing challenged ballots may be viewed here. For the latest on the Franken-Coleman recount, see here.

As of last night, with 98 percent of votes recounted, the Franken campaign's internal numbers showed Franken leading Norm Coleman by 10 votes.

But Franken is ahead by 10 votes only if you assume (1) the Franken campaign's internal numbers--which Coleman's people dispute--are accurate and (2) that "133 mystery ballots that may or may not have disappeared in Minneapolis" turn up and give Franken a net gain of 46 votes.

Yesterday, in one Minneapolis precinct, 133 fewer ballots were counted than the number of votes reported on election night. It's not entirely clear if these ballots ever existed in the first place--election officials could have erred in their counting on election night--but the Franken camp is pushing for a "forensic search" to discover these ballots. If these 133 votes do not turn up, Franken--by his own campaign's estimation--is behind by about 36 votes.

The hand recount will end tomorrow, and then the state canvassing board will meet on December 16 to begin ruling on challenged ballots. If these 133 "missing ballots" are not found, the Franken campaign is likely to challenge the election results in court or in the U.S. Senate. The Franken camp is also likely to challenge election results if rejected absentee ballots are not included in the final count.

With 93 percent of votes recounted, the Minneapolis Star Tribune showed Norm Coleman ahead by 303 votes, but at a press conference today, the Franken campaign claimed that their candidate leads Coleman by 22 votes.

Why the different numbers?

The Franken campaign claims their figure is based on the assumption that election judges' original rulings on challenged ballots will be upheld at the end of the recount. At Minnesota's recount sites, election judges rule whether each ballot is a vote for Coleman, Franken, or neither candidate. If a Coleman or Franken representative challenges a ruling, that ballot will be reviewed by the state canvassing board. The board, comprised of four judges and the Minnesota secretary of state, will issue final calls on challenged ballots beginning December 16. So far, the Franken camp has challenged 2,922 ballots; the Coleman camp has challenged 3,095.

With these 6,000 challenged ballots deducted from the total vote count, Coleman is ahead by 303 votes. But the Franken camp believes that their candidate, had a 325-vote margin over Coleman among these 6,000 ballots.

Very few of the election judges' rulings will be overturned, so trusting these original rulings is a good metric to determine which candidate is ahead. But there are a couple reasons why Franken-fearing Americans shouldn't despair.

First, after today's Franken press conference, Coleman netted 36 votes in one Minneapolis precinct where 133 fewer ballots turned up than were reported on election day. (Yesterday, Franken picked up 37 votes in one precinct where 171 previously uncounted ballots were found.)

Second, it's not clear that the Franken campaign is accurately reporting how the election judges ruled on the 6,000 challenged ballots. Human error could be skewing the numbers. Or, as the Coleman camp claims, the Franken camp may have "invented" their lead to win the public relations battle and grease the skids for court challenges. (The Franken camp has already knowingly told a false story about an elderly stroke victim whose absentee ballot was rejected because her signature didn't match the one on file.) The Coleman campaign says their candidate is "well ahead" of Franken, but won't place their lead at a specific number of votes.