It's semiofficial! Roland Burris, hero, will be the new junior senator from Illinois.

The crazy old man, who seemed, initially, like a halfway normal and fine choice for the seat, and who then turned out to be a crazed egomaniac with a giant stone monument to himself, will be a Democratic senator for the next two years at least, most likely joining Caroline Kennedy and Al Franken as the Democrats attempt to have the most disastrous of midterm elections yet in their rich history of disastrous midterm elections.

Reid and Durbin's only gambit was to refuse to seat Burris because his paperwork wasn't signed by the Illinois Secretary of State. That is a formality, but the Illinois Secretary of State played along and signed it on Friday. Hah.

[Photo: AP]