ST. PAUL, Minn. — Judges began deliberating today in the dispute over Minnesota's vacant Senate seat, where they must decide if Republican Norm Coleman proved there were enough flaws in the election and a recount to invalidate Democrat Al Franken's 225-vote recount win.

Attorneys for both candidates delivered closing arguments earlier today, capping a seven-week trial that painstakingly dissected the closest Senate election in American history.

Franken lawyer Kevin Hamilton argued that Coleman, a former senator, had failed to offer enough evidence to enable him to overcome his Democratic challenger's lead.

"Their failure of proof is simply breathtaking," Hamilton said.

But Coleman's side urged the judges to give hundreds of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected the benefit of the doubt.

"All we need to prove, under your strict compliance standard, is that it is more likely than not that inside the envelope dwells the franchise of a proper voter," Coleman lawyer Joe Friedberg said. "More likely than not."

Stearns County Judge Elizabeth Hayden, one of three judges hearing the case, hinted earlier today that it could take some time.

"We have tried very hard not to make rulings in haste," she said.

The loser can appeal the panel's verdict directly to the state Supreme Court or to a federal court. And even those courts may not have the final say, because the rules of the U.S. Senate give it final approval over the seating of its members.