Al Versus Norm, Part 698

Norm Coleman's case has been dismissed and Al Franken has won the race, but the legal wrangling is just getting started.

Yesterday, 161 days after the 2008 elections, Al Franken was declared the winner of the Minnesota Senate race. Former senator Norm Coleman pressed every angle he could in front of a bipartisan three-member election court, and the end result was that Franken's lead grew about 100 votes, leading the court to rule that Franken is indeed the winner and ought to be seated. "Enough is enough," said DNC chair Tim Kaine, who urged Coleman to concede so that Minnesota could have two votes in the Senate. (The GOP has been silent on the ruling.)

Coleman, of course, has no intention of heeding Kaine's advice. He plans on appealing to the Minnesota state supreme court, and to SCOTUS if necessary. As many have pointed out, the longer Coleman ties Franken up in legal challenges, the longer the Senate Democrats have to scrap and hustle to find an extra vote on all of their major priorities.

But despite Coleman being painted into a corner on this, he has one major ally: Minnesota's GOP governor, Tim Pawlenty.

While most of the attention has focused on the courts in recent weeks, it's clear that there could be a larger cast of characters in the five-month-long drama to determine who won Minnesota's U.S. Senate race.

Key among them is Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Democrats contend he's required to issue and sign the election certificate once all of the appeals are exhausted in state court.

For weeks, Pawlenty has said he would take direction from the courts, but is now suggesting that he could wait beyond the conclusion of state appeals if the case heads to federal court.

"I don't know whether [the certificate] would be required to be issued. I think it could be issued at that time," said Pawlenty. "I'm not saying I wouldn't issue the certificate. I'm just saying we should have all of the facts in front of us before we precommit to something like that."

Let me just make this clear: Pawlenty has no intention of certifying Franken before Coleman's state and federal appeals are fully exhausted. Al Franken won't be seated for several months at the minimum, and the case could drag on possibly for months.

Democrats are going to have to try to do something, or else Franken may never get seated this year.