Al Franken has discovered a new use for YouTube: uploading a video to that site in order to emotionally influence the Minnesota Canvassing Board to count the disputed absentee ballots in that state. Here is how Yid With Lid describes the Franken video:

Looking to put more pressure on the canvassing board who will determine the fate of the absentee ballots, Minnesota Senate Candidate Al Franken  has created a sappy "tug at the heart strings" youtube video to try to convince them to allow in the rejected ballots that favor the Comic. The video plays like a bad episode of Queen for a day. It is simply an attempt to discredit the local election officials through cheap Soap Opera theatrics.

Here is a review of Franken's Queen For A Day video in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: 

Stepping up the pressure on the state Canvassing Board to count disputed absentee ballots in the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Al Franken's campaign Wednesday released a video with seven tug-at-the-heart stories from Minnesotans whose votes the campaign said were improperly rejected.

The video, which was released on YouTube and came two days before the board's Friday meeting on the issue, was immediately criticized by Republicans, who described it as "a new low" and another attempt to discredit local election officials.

In one scene, quadriplegic Mike Brickley of Bloomington is shown lying in bed -- with his head resting on a Minnesota Vikings pillow -- as he pleads with officials to count his vote. "I may be a quadriplegic," said Brickley, 46, as he stares into the camera and speaks in a halting voice, "...but we are still someone, and we deserve to have our votes counted."

Brickley, according to the campaign, had his absentee ballot rejected because he was not a registered voter -- the campaign said state records show he was registered -- and because his signature on his ballot envelope did not match the signature on his application for the absentee ballot. Brickley said he signed his ballot application by holding a pen in his mouth, and had his wife, who had recently suffered a stroke and is legally blind, sign the ballot on his behalf.

The video's release marked the latest attempt by Franken and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman to swing public opinion -- and, possibly, the state Canvassing Board -- in their favor as the monthlong recount heads toward more critical turning points, and as Franken remains behind in the official recount. On Friday, the board will review what to do with what are likely hundreds of absentee ballots that were improperly rejected.

I'm surprised that Franken did not include testimony from Captain Pike of Star Trek that the flashing red light on his box meant he cast his vote for Franken. Or was it the flashing green light?

—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.