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Rejected absentee ballots are private information, with that ruling the Minnesota court of appeals says KSTP-TV can't look at them. That reverses a ruling by a Ramsey county judge that allowed KSTP and four other Hubbard broadcasting stations to get access to unopened, rejected absentee ballots from the 2008 election. Last year, a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation uncovered absentee ballots that had been wrongly accepted and rejected. The station sued to examine the 13-thousand that were never counted in the election to continue it's investigation. The appeals court says the law states clearly that sealed absentee ballots are private data...

Tony Trimble couldn't catch a break. As one of the lead attorneys for Sen. Norm Coleman following Election Day, he hadn't stopped working in months. And as he watched the Republican's lead over Democrat Al Franken slip steadily and then finally vanish in the largest recount in American history, he marveled at how everything seemed to be breaking Franken's way. Clerical corrections, countless one- and two-vote shifts from sloppily filled-out ballots, major judicial rulings. They all added to Franken's vote quarry. In the closing days of the recount, Trimble watched, dumbstruck, as 933 rejected absentee ballots — once the domain...

As a military officer for 30 years, I came to recognize the necessity of good leadership. When I retired from the military in 1998, I became active politically in the Republican Party. Since that time, I've been elected to two National Republican Conventions, acted as a military spokesperson for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004, and served as national veterans coordinator for Fred Thompson's presidential run. In 2007, I ran for Minnesota GOP party chair as a reform candidate, and lost. Over the years I have raised tens of thousands of dollars for GOP coffers, donated many thousands of dollars to...

Politics: The former Stuart Smalley becomes the 60th Democrat in the U.S. Senate, thanks to the community organizers at Acorn and the little-known Secretary of State Project. Is the system being rigged? Incumbent Republican Norm Coleman conceded defeat in the mother of all recounts in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race after the state's Supreme Court unanimously rejected his lawsuit. Arguably, his seat may have been lost the day in 2006 when Democrat Mark Ritchie defeated two-term incumbent Republican Mary Kiffmeyer to become Minnesota secretary of state. It was Ritchie who orchestrated the recount that gave Democratic challenger Franken a lead some...

The Wall Street Journal’s editors weigh in on Al Franken’s Senate win: The ‘Absentee’ Senator. The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of last year’s disputed Senate race, and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman’s gracious concession at least spares the state any further legal combat. The unfortunate lesson is that you don’t need to win the vote on Election Day as long as your lawyers are creative enough to have enough new or disqualified ballots counted after the fact.

Politics: The former Stuart Smalley becomes the 60th Democrat in the U.S. Senate, thanks to the community organizers at Acorn and the little-known Secretary of State Project. Is the system being rigged?Politics: The former Stuart Smalley becomes the 60th Democrat in the U.S. Senate, thanks to the community organizers at Acorn and the little-known Secretary of State Project. Is the system being rigged? Incumbent Republican Norm Coleman conceded defeat in the mother of all recounts in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race after the state's Supreme Court unanimously rejected his lawsuit. Arguably, his seat may have been lost the day in 2006...

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Al Franken was approved Tuesday to join the US Senate. The Democratic Party will now involve him in their secret plans. The Minnesota Supreme Court ratified Al Franken yesterday as having won the Senatorial election seven months ago. Incumbent Norm Coleman, having exhausted all legal channels except for the Minnesota Thunderdome, finally conceded the race, saying only, “Next time Franken. Next time.” The Democrats welcomed Franken into their upper echelons of power with a decoder ring and other perks. In a private ceremony involving robes and jasmine scented aromatherapy candles, Franken was sworn in as a Democrat...

Like an oasis in the desert, the 60-vote Democratic supermajority is a mirage. Yes, former comedian Al Franken is now Minnesota's senator-elect -- thanks to the state Supreme Court's ruling Tuesday -- giving Democrats enough members in the Senate to hit a filibuster-proof majority. This is no laughing matter. But that's on a really, really good day. For all intents and purposes, Democrats don't truly have 60 votes in the Senate. With the addition of Franken, they technically have 58. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., caucus with Democrats but don't define themselves that way. Sanders, a socialist,...

This is a very disturbing picture..... http://younggunconservative.com/2009/06/30/congratulations-democrats-heres-your-new-senator/

Franken Declared Winner of Minnesota Senate Election, Giving Dems Filibuster-Proof Majority After the Minnesota high court rejects a legal challenge from Norm Coleman, the Republican concedes to Democrat Al Franken in the state's Senate race. Democrat Al Franken, right, with his wife Frannie Franken smile as they meet the media at their house in MInneapolis Tuesday June 30, 2009 after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Democrat in the Senate race against Republican Norm Coleman. (AP) Democrat Al Franken as the winner of the state's vacant Senate seat after the state's high court ruled that Republican challenger...

Minnesota Court Confirms Razor-Thin Election Win, but Party's Filibuster-Proof Majority Is Vulnerable to Internal Fissures. WASHINGTON -- The Minnesota Supreme Court cleared the way for Democrat Al Franken to become Minnesota's new U.S. senator, ending a festering eight-month election dispute and giving the Democrats a 60-seat voting majority in the Senate. The court on Tuesday unanimously upheld Mr. Franken's margin of 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast in November's election, giving him the seat that had been held for one term by Republican Norm Coleman. Mr. Coleman conceded at a news conference at his home two hours later, saying...

The National Republican Senatorial Committee spent nearly $1 million on Norm Coleman’s legal fees to back the Republican's appeals and draw out the Minnesota Senate race. But now that the state Supreme Court made its final ruling, NRSC Chairman John Cornyn said he "respects" Coleman's decision to concede: "Throughout the last several months, Senate Republicans have made clear that the people of Minnesota, not politicians in Washington, should decide this election. Now that the courts have spoken, I join Norm in respecting that decision and moving forward to address the important issues facing our country....

“I am deeply disappointed in the decision made by the state Supreme Court, and I share the frustration of Minnesota’s voters. At the core of our democracy lies two concrete principles: No valid vote should go uncounted and all votes should be treated equally. Sadly, those principles were not adhered to during this election. While I would have proudly stood behind Norm Coleman had he chosen to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, I know that his decision to withdraw from this race was not an easy one, but one that he felt was the best decision for the people...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats are urging Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to certify Democrat Al Franken's election to the Senate following the state Supreme Court's ruling that the former Saturday Night Live comedian defeated GOP incumbent Norm Coleman.

In a 15-minute news conference, looking relaxed and upbeat, Norm Coleman congratulated Al Franken, reminisced about his 6-year term and the "longest election in Minnesota history" and didn't discuss the details of the rejected legal challenge. "We have reached the point where further litigation damages the unity of our state," Coleman said. "I congratulate Al Franken in his victory in his election." "The bottom line is that's history. I'm not looking back… We are a nation of laws, not men and women. The court has spoken.".... Moments later, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's office issued the following statement: "The Minnesota Supreme Court...

ST. PAUL, Minn. -Republican Norm Coleman conceded to Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota's contested Senate race on Tuesday, ending a nearly eight-month recount and court fight over an election decided by only a few hundred votes. Coleman announced his decision at a news conference in St. Paul hours after a unanimous Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" comedian and liberal commentator, should be certified the winner. "The Supreme Court has made its decision and I will abide by the results," Coleman told reporters outside his St. Paul home. Coleman, appearing relaxed and upbeat, said he...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republican Norm Coleman has conceded to Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota's contested Senate race, ending a nearly eight-month recount and court fight. Coleman conceded at a news conference in St. Paul, a few hours after a unanimous Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Tuesday the former "Saturday Night Live" comedian and liberal commentator should be certified the winner..............

Coleman: the GOP's million-dollar man GOP senators, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee insist that the Coleman challenge has been worth the money — for now. Over the past three months, the NRSC spent nearly $1 million to pay his legal bills, and since Election Day, Republican senators and the RNC have pumped in hundreds of thousands of dollars more. -snip- Coleman’s legal challenge has reached the Minnesota Supreme Court, but many legal experts believe that the court’s decision — expected any day — will affirm that Franken won last November’s election. If that happens, Coleman...

While many will touch on the humor of “funny man” Al Franken now taking his shtick to the Senate, and MSNBC will likely be apoplectic tonight at the concept of 60 Democrat senators now moving forward Barack Obama’s deficit-spending, big government policies through the upper chamber, I submit that the punchline may be at the cost of “conservative” Democrat senators, including Arkansas’s own Blanche Lincoln, who will now have a target painted on them to be the 60th vote on such things as card check, cap and tax and Obamacare.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in favor of Al Franken in the disputed U.S. Senate race, according to Franken's attorney.