All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Al Franken took the oath of office to officially become a U.S. Senator for the state of Minnesota on Tuesday.

After a protracted, eight-month battle with incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, the swearing in session took just a few brief moments. Franken was administered the oath by Vice President Joe Biden and was accompanied by his fellow Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Walter Mondale.

While Franken has kept a serious demeanor in his role as a politician, Klobuchar made light of her new colleague's lengthy road to the Senate when she introduced him today.

"I think it was Al who told me that the third year of his campaign would be the best," she said.

Franken won a hearty round of applause from his fellow senators in the chamber after he accepted the oath and Biden congratulated him.

The new senator will join the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Committee on Indian Affairs, the Special Committee on Aging and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- once health care reform legislation has been marked up.

UPDATED 4:18 p.m. ET

NOTE: Coleman has now conceded and congratulated Franken on his victory. Read more here.

Former Senator Norm Coleman has lost his appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, paving the way for Democrat Al Franken to join the Senate and give his party a filibuster-proof majority – though Coleman's could still appeal the decision in U.S. federal court.

"We affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast" in the election, the decision states. The justices also explicitly ruled that Franken is "entitled" under Minnesota law to receive the certificate of election as senator.

The judges stated that Coleman has "not shown that the trial court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous or that the court committed an error of law or abused its discretion." They ruled unanimously for Franken, 5-0.

"Coleman has exhausted all of his state legal options at this point," said CBS News political director Steve Chaggaris. "His choice now is to either appeal to federal courts or concede."

A Minnesota court awarded Al Franken about $95,000 in legal fees from Norm Coleman Wednesday, but we still await the big decision from the State Supreme Court on the Senate race. While we do, here are a couple of things to keep in mind.

First, if the State Supreme Court’s decision favors Norm Coleman, remember that won’t in itself give him the Senate seat. If the rejected absentee ballots that Coleman wants reconsidered are actually opened up, it isn’t known whether the votes would help Coleman’s numbers or Franken’s. Depending on what the court orders, such a ruling might only send the race back to the Secretary of State’s office to begin a process of reconsidering them.

A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**President Obama meets with Democratic senators today to talk health care...

**Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is on the Hill to meet with Senators...

**Mr. Obama leaves for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later today for a five-day trip to the Middle East and Europe...

**The Minnesota Supreme Court is "skeptical" of Republican Norm Coleman's arguments...

HEALTH CARE: Democratic senators head to the White House to meet with Mr. Obama about health care while his Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies before a House Appropriations Subcommittee on the administration's proposals.

Last night, the White House released a report concluding that it'll be impossible to fix the economy without bringing down health care costs.

The Washington Post's Ceci Connolly and Lori Montgomery report, "Slowing the growth in health-care spending from 6 percent a year to 4.5 percent would have enormous benefits for the nation's economy, creating as many as 500,000 jobs a year and increasing annual income for the average family of four by $2,600 over the next decade, the president's chief economic advisers said yesterday. ...

"The report contains few details about how those ambitious goals would be achieved, however, and does not address any increased federal spending needed to implement health reform. And the White House economists acknowledge that shaving 1.5 percentage points off the rate of growth in health spending would be extraordinarily difficult -- 'probably near the upper bound of what is feasible.'"

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There are three things you can count on in life: Death, taxes, and the fact that the Minnesota Senate race, much like the typical middle school talent show, will seemingly never end.

The latest development in the nearly-seven-month-long saga comes today, as lawyers for former Senator Norm Coleman ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to overturn Democrat Al Franken's slim victory over his Republican rival.

Here's a brief recap of the situation so far: On November 4th of last year - that's nearly seven months ago - Minnesota voters cast their ballots. The initial results showed a narrow Coleman victory, but the tight outcome triggered an automatic recount - after which Franken had a narrow lead.

Then came months of legal wrangling, which culminated in a judicial panel declaring Franken the winner of the election by 312 votes. Coleman appealed that decision, which is why the case now stands before the state Supreme Court.

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Well, don't say it came as a proverbial bolt from the blue.

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who last week crossed parties to become a Democrat, said on Tuesday that he hoped Republican Norm Coleman would be declard the winner win Minnesota's dragged-out senate race.

In a question-and-answer interview with the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Times reporter Deborah Solomon wanted to know whether he cared that there now would be no more Jewish Republicans left in the United States Senate.

"I sure do. There’s still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner," Specter said.

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The state of Minnesota has handed Internet providers a 7-page blacklist of gambling Web sites that they are supposed to prevent subscribers from accessing, a move that raises First Amendment and technical concerns.

"We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance," John Willems, a Minnesota Department of Public Safety official, said in a statement. Companies that received the list of off-limits Web sites -- which was made public on Thursday -- include AT&T, Comcast, Qwest, and Sprint/Nextel.

The Department of Public Safety's letters to the Internet providers say that "gambling is illegal within Minnesota" and claims a federal law "requires upon notice by a law enforcement agency that you do not allow your systems to be used for the transmission of gambling information."

Federal law says that a "common carrier" must "discontinue or refuse, the leasing, furnishing, or maintaining" of any service if it's being used to transmit gambling-related information. (The U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Communications Commission, however, have suggested that neither cable providers nor DSL providers are "common carriers.")

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Liberal advocacy group Americans United For Change has released a new ad pressuring Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to "act in the best interest of Minnesota" and certify Democrat Al Franken as the state's senator.

Franken was declared the victor in his battle against Norm Coleman for the Minnesota Senate seat following a recount and legal wrangling that has lasted for months. Coleman is now appealing the decision to the state Supreme Court.

"Most Minnesotans – including Republicans – believe that once the state Supreme Court rules, Governor Pawlenty should do his legal duty and certify Al Franken as our senator," an announcer says in the spot. "But the national Republican donors don’t want Minnesota to have our rightful representation in the Senate. The Republican Campaign Chairman, Texas Senator Cornyn, said Norm Coleman’s court challenges could take 'years' to resolve."

"Now Governor Pawlenty has a choice," the announcer continues. "Will he act in the best interest Minnesota or his own national political ambitions?"

These words then appear onscreen: "Call Governor Pawlenty at 800-657-3717. Ask him to put Minnesota’s interest ahead of political ambition."

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Former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota today filed a notice indicating that he is appealing his apparent election loss to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Last week, a three-judge panel determined that, following a recount and months of legal wrangling, Democrat Al Franken had ultimately secured 312 more votes than Coleman in their battle for a Minnesota Senate seat.

The panel indicated Franken should be declared the winner of the race. Coleman's legal team maintains that 4,400 absentee ballots went uncounted.

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Former Republican Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman sued after the recount in his razor-close election battle with Democrat Al Franken, above, showed the former comedian with a 225 vote lead, setting off a legal battle that has dragged for months.

The results of that lawsuit, however, appear to have helped Franken more than Coleman, at least for the time being.

Franken today extended his lead by almost 100 votes, and he now leads Coleman by 312, reports the Associated Press.

Last week, the three-judge panel hearing the case allowed for 351 additional contested absentee ballots to be counted. The count, which happened today, netted Franken more votes than it did Coleman.

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