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Three judges soundly rejected Norm Coleman's attempt to reverse Al Franken's lead in the U.S. Senate election late Monday, sweeping away the Republican's claims in a blunt ruling Coleman promised to appeal.

After a trial spanning nearly three months, the judicial panel dismissed Coleman's central argument that the election and its aftermath were fraught with systemic errors that made the results invalid.

"The overwhelming weight of the evidence indicates that the Nov. 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially and accurately," the panel said in its unanimous decision.

"It is the kind of opinion that is unlikely to be disturbed on appeal by either the Minnesota Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court," said Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "The opinion considers the major arguments made by Coleman and rejects them in a detailed and measured way."

Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a Washington political power and Alaska icon who couldn't survive a conviction on federal corruption charges. His defeat by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats within two seats of a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Stevens' ouster on his 85th birthday marks an abrupt realignment in Alaska politics and will alter the power structure in the Senate, where he has served since the days of the Johnson administration while holding seats on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

The crotchety octogenarian built like a birch sapling likes to encourage comparisons with the Incredible Hulk, but he occupies an outsized place in Alaska history. His involvement in politics dates to the days before Alaska statehood, and he is esteemed for his ability to secure billions of dollars in federal aid for transportation and military projects. The Anchorage airport bears his name; in Alaska, it's simply "Uncle Ted."

Not all those people out waving campaign signs were eager volunteers pushing candidates they believed in Tuesday.

“This is just a job for me,” said Lamar Graham, one of four men holding anti-Obama signs at East Bay Drive and Belcher Road. “I’ve already put in my vote for Obama.”

Graham, 20, and the three others were day laborers with Able Body Labor, a temporary staffing agency headquartered in Largo and with an office in Clearwater. They were paid minimum wage to stand from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and hold the signs that encourage folks to vote for the Republican nominee John McCain.

The four were among an undetermined number of day laborers placed at high-traffic corners throughout North Pinellas County. A worker at Able Body Labor’s Largo office declined to comment on the day laborers.

The signs featured Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s name circled in red with a slash through it similar to symbol used in the Ghostbusters’ movies.

Beneath the circle was a warning that Obama wanted to “distribute your wealth to those who haven’t earned it.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he fears that America will be hurt if Democrats achieve a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate as a result of the elections.

Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate on the 2000 Democratic ticket and sought the party’s nomination four years later, became an Independent after losing in the 2006 Connecticut primary. He still caucused with Democrats in the 110th Congress and gave his old party a slim majority in the Senate. However, the rift between Lieberman and his colleagues widened when he not only endorsed Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), but also repeatedly slammed Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

His remarks Tuesday could further damage his relationship with his former party. The Democratic base is already calling for him to be stripped of his chairmanship. However, it could also be an indication that Lieberman could deny his former party the 60-seats it seeks.

Lieberman was asked on the Glenn Beck radio show whether he agreed with GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) that “if we don’t at least have the firewall of the filibuster in the Senate, that in many ways America will not survive.”

Betty Owen is 92 and after a stroke four years ago, needs a feeding tube and can't walk. But she was determined not to miss Tuesday's election. She arrived at her polling place on a gurney in an ambulance, where an election judge and support worker climbed aboard with an electronic voting machine and let her cast her ballot.

"And you have voted," precinct judge Sam Green said after Owen pushed the red button finalizing her choices. "You know, you look so pretty in that red dress."

"I am also exercising my right to privacy and I don't have to tell ANYBODY who I vote for. Nobody does and that's really cool about America also and um, I think some significance here also that you can appreciate, you who have traveled a long way to be here to even cover this vote is, now you can recognize how far removed Alaska is from Washington politics which is good, that is healthy, it's a great perspective that I bring to this whole Washington, Wall Street arena."