Former US Senator Norm Coleman's campaign is in court today trying to convince a three judge panel to overturn Al Franken's 225 vote lead in Minnesota's US Senate race.

Today the Coleman Campaign is grilling the Minnesota Deputy Secretary of State trying to prove that about 5,000 to 12,000...

US Senate Candidate Al Franken was loose and making jokes as his legal team prepared for Monday's election contest trial that could determine who is Minnesota's next US Senator.

After a state-wide hand recount, Franken holds a 225-vote lead over former US Senator...

The Minnesota Senate Election Contest has begun! The three-judge panel will convene each weekeday from 9 AM - 4:30 PM (in Central time), and we'll be there live. Join us on our live blog on the front page, or below:

Tomorrow begins the prelimnary steps in the Minnesota Senate race's election contest. Lawyers for Franken and Coleman will go to head in the contest's first proceedings. Join us live from the courtroom - we'll have video, and our usual live blog.

Today in snowy Minnesota, a three-panel judge will hear the first motion in the Senate race's election contest: the Franken campaign's motion to dismiss the whole darn thing. Franken says state law prevents a re-do of the recount; Coleman says the opposite. This motion isn't expected to pass, so we're...

I don't have to tell you this, but for the sake of an intro, I'll say it anyway: six million thousand hundred people are descending upon DC as we speak. The UpTake has a few correspondents in the mix, sniffing out stories. We'll have our usual live blog rolling at...

When you call a press conference, it is usually to disseminate information. Not so with the Norm Coleman campaign this election season. The Coleman campaign has repeatedly denied The UpTake and other independent media access to its press conferences when they are held at the campaign's headquarters.

But...

Norm Coleman will speak to the press for first time since the Minnesota Canvassing Board certified that Al Franken is leading the Minnesota US Senate race by 225 votes. The UpTake which has been covering the recount in Minnesota live for nearly two months now, will of course cover...

"I'm proud to stand before you as the next Senator from Minnesota"

Nearly two months after the election, Minnesota will have a final vote total for the US Senate race. What it won't have is a US Senator. Monday the State Canvassing Board meets at 2:30 PM (streamed live here on The UpTake.org) to certify the vote totals. However, the Governor...

It's hard to pick the "best" videos of the year.  There are so many reasons that they can be good.  So I've picked several based on my own categories.
Best On Camera Ass-Whuppin'

If you are a fan of Bill Moyers, you...

Point your browsers to The UpTake on Saturday starting at 9 AM CT to watch the opening and counting of those previously rejected absentee ballots in Minnesota's extremely close US Senate race. Unofficial State Canvassing Board totals put Democrat Al Franken ahead by 49 votes over Incumbent Republican Senator...

The UpTake will be streaming live video of the Canvassing Board meeting and the pre-meeting ballot withdrawls starting at noon CST.

Join our live blog too!

Other News on the Minnesota US Senate Recount from The UpTake:

MN Supreme Court To Hear US Senate Recount Case

Minnesota's closest election in decades is headed to the state's highest court before the recount is even finished. The Minnesota Supreme Court today scheduled a hearing for Wednesday at 1pm to hear the Norm Coleman campaign's suit to stop the counting of improperly rejected absentee ballots.

In scheduling the hearing, the court made no comment on the merit of Coleman's claim that there are no uniform standards for counting the absentee ballots. It did refuse to grant a temporary restraining order that would have stopped the counting. Instead, it asked counties to keep the envelope that the absentee ballot came in and have a way of identifying which ballots were originally rejected.

The Franken campaign says Hennepin County is going ahead with sorting and counting the improperly rejected absentee ballots. Hennepin County has the largest population of all Minnesota counties.

The court ordered:

Documents in the case must be filed by Noon Tomorrow (Tuesday December 16, 2008) and replies to those filings must be filed by 4:30 PM

That the Secretary of State "shall inform the court of the final date by which a original certificate of election must be delivered to the secretary of the United States Senate for the person elected on November 4 to take office."

Video of the Minnesota Supreme Court hearing will be carried live by The UpTake.

Challenges trimmed

The Franken campaign says it has cut its number of challenged ballot to 436. According to Franken Communications Director Andy Barr the two campaigns met at the Secretary of State's office today to discuss tomorrow's canvassing board meeting. The Franken campaign produced a list of 436 ballots that it will continue to challenge. Barr said the Coleman campaign had no such list.

Last week several judges on the Canvassing Board indicated that they did not want to consider challenges that were frivolous. Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has said he thinks the most challenges the board could consider in the four days it has to review ballots would be 1,000.

Canvassing Board meeting delayed

The State Canvassing Board has moved the start time of its meeting on challenged ballots from 9am to Noon because the Coleman campaign had not submitted its whittled down list of challenged ballots by 2pm Monday. Secretary of State staff will start sorting out the challenged and now unchallenged ballots at 8am...

Hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand absentee ballots have been improperly rejected by local election officials across the state of Minnesota. The State Canvassing Board has asked Minnesota's counties and cities to sort out those ballots. Not all are doing so. On Friday the Board may take action on those...

Minnesota's State Canvassing Board ruled it does not have jurisdiction over rejected absentee ballots cast in Minnesota's US Senate race. However, it left open the door for local election officials to sort through rejected absentee ballots and determine if any were improperly rejected. Ballots can be rejected for one of...

The Al Franken campaign today produced ballots challenged by the Norm Coleman for Senate campaign and pointed out an interesting pattern. As you can see in the video there is a clear vote for Al Franken, but it the Coleman campaign appears to contend the vote should have been for...

From The UpTake

Tomorrow morning when the recount in Minnesota's very close US Senate race starts the score will be "zero to zero" according to Al Franken's campaign manager Andy Barr. The State Canvassing Board today ordered the recount which is required when the margin is less than .5%. Below are videos as...

Senator Norm Coleman's lead over Al Franken shrunk again from 206 to an even 200 votes after counties from all over Minnesota turned in their audits Friday. The hand count audits were only of 3 to 5 precincts in any given county and are done after every election in Minnesota...

Senator Norm Coleman and his staff have been less than completely forthcoming in their responses to questions about Coleman's financial relationship with wealthy businessman Nasser Kazimny.  Court documents from a case in Texas now reveal why the campaign and Coleman may have been choosing their words so carefully.

Kaziminy is...