Coleman Concedes - Franken Wins

It's finally over. After 8 months of contentious bickering, a recount and a court fight that went all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Minnesota finally has two senators. On election night last November, Norm Coleman finished ahead by 206 votes out of more than 2.9 million votes cast. State law mandated a recount because of the closeness of the vote. After the recount, Al Franken led by 312 votes.

Coleman refused to concede, and contested the election all the way up to the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court announced its decision. Their unanimous decision declared that Al Franken "received the highest number of votes legally cast"and he should be certified as Minnesota's new senator.

Coleman had threatened to appeal to federal courts if the Minnesota court ruled against him, but he's not going to do that. Finally bending to the will of the people of Minnesota, Coleman told reporters, "I just congratulated Al Franken on his victory. I told him it's the best job he'll ever have -- representing Minnesota in the United States Senate. The Supreme Court has spoken, I will respect its decision, and abide by its results."

Minnesota's governor and Secretary of State have now both signed the election certificate, and it will be delivered to the Senate today. Mr. Franken is expected to be sworn in after the Senate returns from its Fourth of July break.

Franken said, "We are so thrilled we can finally celebrate this victory and I'm so excited to finally be able to get to work for the people of Minnesota. We have a lot of work to do in Washington, but that's why I signed up for the job in the first place....I want the people of Minnesota to know that I'm ready to work for all of you, that I'm committed to being a voice for all Minnesotans in the U.S. Senate."

Senator Al Franken. Damn, but I like the sound of that!