Minnesota

(Newser) - The deadline for appealing his case to the Minnesota Supreme Court passes today, and Larry Craig will not seek a review, Fox affiliate KMSP-TV reports. The former Idaho senator was arrested last year in a Minneapolis airport sex sting, and sought to void his conviction. An appeals court ruled against him, and Craig’s lawyers said the Supreme Court would likely pass, the AP adds. More »

(AP) - Norm Coleman is suing to challenge Al Franken's recount victory in Minnesota's Senate race, delaying a resolution of the contest for weeks or possibly months. At a news conference filled with cheering supporters, Coleman said he won't accept an electoral board's determination yesterday that the Democrat won by 225 votes. More »

(Newser) - Minnesota’s Canvassing Board today certified Democrat Al Franken’s victory in the US Senate race, hours after the state’s top court rejected Republican Norm Coleman’s plea to count 654 previously rejected ballots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The defeat leaves Coleman just one option. “Today’s ruling,” a Coleman lawyer said, “ensures that an election contest is now inevitable.” More »

(Newser) - Funnyman-about to-turn-Sen. Al Franken is expected to be officially declared the winner of the marathon recount in the US Senate race in Minnesota today—but don't expect incumbent Norm Coleman to quietly accept the decision. His campaign will challenge the result in court, and Senate Republicans will oppose Franken being seated in the Senate, said GOP officials. The state canvassing board will announce Franken won by 225 votes, reports CNN. More »

(Newser) - It's looking more and more likely that Al Franken will be the new senator from Minnesota. Franken extended his lead to 225 votes over Norm Coleman tonight after election officials finished counting nearly 1,000 previously rejected ballots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The recount is now done—unless the state's Supreme Court rules it isn't. More »

(Newser) - The battling campaigns in the Minnesota Senate race have agreed to count some 900 incorrectly rejected ballots, an unexpectedly high proportion of the 1,350 reviewed by county officials. The system required both campaigns to agree on every ballot, which made such a figure seem unlikely, Talking Points Memo reports. More »

(Newser) - Norm Coleman rejected 37% of recount ballots in a blue Minnesota county this week, including that of an election judge, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Shirley Graham, who voted for Coleman, disputes a date discrepancy the senator used to deny her absentee vote. The state Supreme Court gave the candidates unilateral power to reject any ballot up for recount, a power the Republican camp has liberally exercised. More »

(Newser) - It’s not clear what the Minnesota Supreme Court was thinking when it made the outcome of the Senate race contingent on the two campaigns working out a deal on disputed absentee ballots. Not surprisingly, the Al Franken and Norm Coleman camps, currently separated by 46 votes,