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Someone please tell me this means we are finally going to see a Sen. Al Franken some time in the next week or so. If Pawlenty actually signs the election certification once the Minnesota Supreme Court makes its ruling, it's about damned time. Enough with the games Governor.

KING: Welcome back to State of the Union. Let's continue our conversation with Minnesota's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty.

Governor, I want to move on to what you think ails the national Republican Party. But first, a question that is very personal to you. Your state has only had one United States senator since the election because of the disputed election between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.

Your state supreme court has a ruling before it, it could come very soon. After that ruling, the next step would be for you to certify the election. Will you certify the election based on your state's supreme court ruling, is that for you?

PAWLENTY: I'm going to follow the direction of the court, John. We expect that ruling any day now. I also expect them to give guidance and direction as to the certificate of election. I'm prepared to sign it as soon as they give the green light.

KING: And so if Norm Coleman loses at the state supreme court and says he's going to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, will you give him that time or will you say, sorry, Senator Coleman, our state supreme court, our highest court in this state, has spoken, and I will follow their lead?

PAWLENTY: Well, a federal court could stay or put a limit on or stop the effect of the state court ruling. If they chose, if they do that, I would certainly follow their direction. But if that doesn't happen promptly or drags out for any period of time, then we need to move ahead with signing this, particularly if I'm ordered to do that by the state court. KING: And if you're ordered to do it and they say Al Franken has narrowly won the election, you're prepared to sign it, if the court says so.

PAWLENTY: I'm not going to defy an order of the Minnesota Supreme Court. That would be a dereliction of my duty. But a federal court could weigh in and say, don't do that and order a different result.

Ex-Senator Norm Coleman got a bit of a surprise yesterday when he was greeted by one of the NormDollar.com people who in fact turned out not to be part of his fan club. Over $90,000 has now been raised for progressive candidates, and the group wants to go over $100,000. Thank you, Norm Coleman.

If anyone knows why Norman is on crutches feel free to chime in. So far the guesses have been:

1. Pulling an insurance scam.

2. Copying Cheney at the Inuguration but too cheap to spring for a wheelchair.

3. Because he's like so lame.

4. His legs were injured when his pants caught on fire (from all the lying, naturally).

5. As in his ridiculous court case, he has no legs to stand on anymore.

From Al Franken's press conference on the news tonight that the Minnesota court had ruled in his favor, declaring him the winner of the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota.

Norm Coleman's case was dismissed with prejudice by the court. Coleman is expected to appeal the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court. As such, it is not yet clear when a certificate of election will be issued, something Franken will need in order to be seated in the U.S. Senate.

The UpTake is a Minnesota-based citizen journalist organization which has provided yeoman's service in covering the prolonged U.S. Senate race in Minnesota.

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Michele Bachmann (R-MN) joins the chorus of rightwing nutjobs who have signed onto the Norm Coleman strategy of discrediting the entire Minnesota recount process. A tall order, given the circumspect nature of the painstaking recount process. In fact, in her appearance yesterday on Fox&Friends she basically cribs her entire argument from a Wall Street Journal piece last week called Funny Business in Minnesota, which in turn took it's talking points straight from the Coleman campaign. And they're nothing if not blatant about it either:

Strange things keep happening in Minnesota, where the disputed recount in the Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken may be nearing a dubious outcome. Thanks to the machinations of Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and a meek state Canvassing Board, Mr. Franken may emerge as an illegitimate victor.

And so too are those zany Fox kids (Doocy-Carlson-Kilmeade). In a piece last week (added to the video) Al Franken is lumped in with Rod Blagojevich, Eliot Spitzer and other Democratic scandals, heavy emphasis on "democratic".

Although Coleman has filed a motion to contest the result (Franken winning by 225 votes out of over 2 million cast) it's looking increasingly likely this is more theater than with definite prospects of overturning the now certified result.

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On a day when the Minnesota Supreme Court denied a bid by Coleman's campaign claim of some double-counted ballots, things are looking dim for his re-election hopes. Or as Josh Marshall put it:

Looks like it's gonna be Sen. Franken (D-MN). Not a 100% yet. But the state Supreme Court just put the kibosh on Coleman's last credible legal angle.

Bye, Norm.

For his part, Coleman seems rather wistful at the prospect:

"I feel fairly confident. In the end, the good Lord's going to decide," Coleman told the local Fox affiliate. "The numbers look good to us. Certainly there's uncertainty. I'm not worried about it. I've done everything I can do. I'm not really agonizing about the outcome."

Coleman went on: "Life goes on, regardless of what your job is. I certainly love what I do. If I can keep doing it, I'll be thrilled, and if not, I'm sure we'll do something else."

Now far be it for me to make fun of another man's religion but Coleman's recent appearance on Chanukah With The Stars reminds me of the parody of the old SCTV series. (Rightwing nutter Dennis Prager was also a guest on one of the shows.) Between 3:35-4:20 Coleman talks about what it means to him to be in the U.S. Senate, that "he still has to pinch himself he's there". It would seem your pinching days are just about over, Norm.