Pawlenty In Squeeze Over Franken's Fate

(AP) - The Minnesota Supreme Court today rejected Democrat Al Franken's petition for an election certificate that would put him in the US Senate without waiting for a lawsuit to be resolved. Franken is ahead of Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes. Coleman's ongoing lawsuit argues some uncounted absentee ballots were wrongly rejected. More»

Dems could pick up 8 seats; GOP could oust Landrieu in La.

(NEWSER) - With 35 Senate seats up for grabs Tuesday, Chris Cillizza, in the Washington Post, predicts Democrats will flip eight. Two more are close calls for the Dems, while the GOP has one hope for a pickup. Starting with the most likely:

1. Virginia is in the bag for Mark Warner; he might even get 60% of the vote.
2. New Mexico will fall easily to Tom Udall...
3. ...while his cousin, Mark Udall, has pulled away in Colorado.

(NEWSER) - Norm Coleman isn't going to drag out Minnesota's Senate fight any longer. Coleman conceded the race to Al Franken today, hours after the state's Supreme Court decreed that Democrat Franken was the rightful winner of November's election, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Further litigation damages the unity of our state," said Coleman. "The future today is that we have a new United States senator." More»

The end may finally be near in Minnesota Senate race

(NEWSER) - Minnesota’s Senate contest seems poised to end at long last, the Minnesota Independent reports. Election-law experts are sure that the Minnesota Supreme Court will shoot down Norm Coleman’s appeal, and it will probably be unanimous in doing so. “What he’s asked the Supreme Court to do is to ignore Minnesota law,” said one law professor. “There didn’t seem to be a single justice for whom this works.” More»

(NEWSER) - Tim Pawlenty will not seek a third term as Minnesota governor, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Pawlenty is seen as a probable Republican candidate for 2012, but he was mum on the subject. “I don’t have any plans beyond serving out my term,” he said today. “I’m not ruling anything in or out.” He said he was leaving office to open up the field to others. More»