Long. But not that long.

Could Minnesota’s election trial be the longest “trial” in state history? If so, it’s got a long way to go.

Minnesota elections director Gary Poser is answering questions today in former Sen. Norm Coleman’s appeal of the Senate election recount process that showed Al Franken the winner by 225 votes

This is the fifth week of the trial, not even a third of the way toward equaling the 1998 Minnesota tobacco trial.

“Where we are is we’re in the middle of their case,” Franken lawyer Marc Elias said during a break Friday. “I don’t know how much longer it will go on. That’s a question you should ask the other side.”

Eleven years ago, Minnesota prosecutors opened a trial that few gave them a chance to win. No one had ever beaten “big tobacco.” They, along with attorneys for Blue Cross Blue Shield, took two months to present their case. The tobacco industry took six weeks.

It wasn’t until May that the two sides reached a deal. One big difference with the Franken-Coleman trial: There are no jurors to undergo the financial hardship of a long trial.