Some people are puzzled by the Franken campaign's assertion that they are now ahead by 22 votes. That's understandable, since the latest count has him behind by 316.

What you have to understand is that it's part of a public relations strategy.

You see, despite the fact that Franken's totals have already been swelled by several hundred shady, probably manufactured votes, he is behind and unlikely to prevail under the legitimate recount process. The recount is almost over and although they do have to look at roughly 3,000 challenged ballots from both sides, most of those are frivolous.

According to the rules written before the election, that should be the end of the election, but the Democrats play by a different set of rules.

Here's how Democrats who want to steal elections play the game: the rules written before the election mean nothing. The only rule that means anything is that because "every vote counts," you must keep counting votes, some votes, any votes, until Democratic dirty tricksters can manufacture enough votes to get you ahead. Then -- and only then -- the counting is done.

That's what Al Gore wanted to do. It's how Christine Gregoire won the governor's election in Washington back in 2004, and it's how Al Franken is going to try to win a Senate seat he lost at the ballot box.

If, as expected, Coleman wins the actual recount and is ahead when the results of the challenged ballots come through, Franken will insist that they count the absentee ballots despite the fact that Minnesota law clearly and unambiguously says that isn't done.

If that doesn't work, Franken will to go to court and get enough votes added to his total or taken away from Coleman's total to win.

If that fails, then it's off to the Senate, where he'll try to convince Harry Reid to thwart the democratic process and force a revote rather than seat Coleman. You can bet that Reid is thinking very hard about whether the publicity hit from stealing an election is worth getting a 59th vote -- and that's what the Franken campaign's claim to be ahead is all about. They want to muddy the water a little bit, so that it won't look quite as bad if the Senate jumps in. After all, it certainly sounds better for the Democrats to get involved in a close race where both sides were ahead at one point or the other rather than a race where the Republican was ahead from beginning to end. Of course, Coleman has been ahead from beginning to end, but don't expect the Dems to let the facts get in the way.

So, that's where we are in Minnesota and the real question is not, "Who's going to win," it's , "Can Al Franken and the Democrats steal a seat that they lost?"