On Monday, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board certified Democrat Al Franken as the victor in the U.S. Senate race recount, beating incumbent Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes. In a press conference the next day, however, Coleman rejected the Board’s ruling, vowing to wage a court battle to challenge the results. A trial will likely begin in 20 days, but “a Coleman lawyer said a decision may not be known until two months from now.”

Despite the potential for a prolonged legal battle, conservatives are urging to Coleman to fight on and promising to filibuster any Democratic attempts to seat Franken while litigation is pending. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), for instance, has said that he is solidly behind Coleman:

– “The race in Minnesota is not over,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said. “It’s well-established in the Senate: The way you get sworn in and the way you get seated is to show up with an election certificate. And that is determined under Minnesota law.” [1/5/09]

“The only people who have pronounced the Minnesota Senate race over are Washington Democrats, and the candidate who is the current custodian of the most votes,” McConnell said in a written statement released Tuesday. “The people of Minnesota certainly don’t believe this is over.” [1/6/09]

It’s interesting that McConnell is willing to let an election — which has already had a recount — hang in the air for two months. After all, less than a month after the 2000 election, McConnell was already demanding that Al Gore concede to George W. Bush. McConnell’s comments to the Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov. 27, 2000:

We’ve had a count, we’ve had a recount, we’ve had a recount of the recount. It’s been three weeks since the election and it’s time for Gore to be a statesman and give it up.

Karl Rove, another person who was obviously rooting for Gore to concede, also said on Hannity and Colmes earlier this week that “Al Franken cannot unilaterally declare himself the senator from the state of Minnesota and show up in Washington.”

The Minnesota State Canvassing board has certified results showing that Al Franken has won the Minnesota Senate recount, beating Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) by 225 votes. But the race is still “in limbo,” as the Board’s declaration “starts a seven-day clock for Coleman to file a lawsuit protesting the result” — which he has indicated he will do. Senate Republicans have said they will filibuster any attempt to seat Franken while litigation is pending.

Al Franken holds an unofficial lead of 225 votes over incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. “With the recount complete, focus immediately shifted to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which continued to consider a request from the Coleman campaign to alter the process and add more absentee ballots to be reconsidered.” Eric Kleefeld notes that “Minnesota law is unique in that it prohibits the issuing of an official certificate of election until the legal challenges are all resolved.”

As of 3:02 this afternoon, Al Franken was leading Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) by 257 votes in the senate race recount. FiveThiryEight’s Nate Silver projected Franken would ultimately win the recount with a margin of at least 70 votes.

Earlier this week, news reports indicated that the FBI is investigating allegations that Nasser Kazeminy, a Minnesota businessman “tried to funnel $75,000″ to Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) through his wife. Now, a Minnesota Fox News affiliate reports that the timing of the payments suggest that the funds were used to pay for a portion of the senator’s home renovations:

[Coleman's] campaign did agree to share billing records of the remodeling project. Original projections in 2006 estimated a cost of $328,000, but four months later, the construction cost was estimated at $414,000, over-budget by $86,000.

During that time is when, the lawsuit alleges, Kazeminy was trying to get money to Coleman. According to the lawsuits, in March of 2007, Kazeminy said that “U.S. Senators don’t make s—” and he was going to try to find a way to get money to Coleman.

The renovations included remodeling the Colemans’ kitchen, which Coleman showed off in a recent campaign ad:

Last month, a lawsuit filed against Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) alleged that a donor, Nasser Kazeminy, funneled money to Coleman illegally. Since then, Coleman’s office has refused to disclose whether Coleman has been contacted by investigators. Today, the Pioneer Press reports that Coleman is under FBI investigation:

Federal investigators are looking into allegations that a longtime friend and benefactor tried to steer money to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, the Pioneer Press has learned.Agents with the FBI have talked to or made efforts to talk to people in Texas familiar with the allegations, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Houston is where the first of two lawsuits was filed alleging Nasser Kazeminy, a Bloomington financier, tried to steer $100,000 to Coleman via his wife’s Minneapolis employer. The second suit, filed in Delaware, alleges Kazeminy initially tried to get money directly to the senator.

The Coleman campaign called the allegations “sleazy and politically inspired allegations.” But the Pioneer Press notes, “The campaign provided no evidence for the claim that the allegations are ‘politically inspired.’”

Last month, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) came under fire in a lawsuit alleging that a donor, Nasser Kazeminy, used an insurance company that employs Coleman’s wife to pass money to Coleman illegally. After a watchdog group requested a federal investigation, Coleman’s office gave an “unequivocal ‘no‘” on whether he was being investigated. But TPM notes that now, Coleman’s office curiously won’t say whether he is under investigation:

Both the FBI and the ethics committee have declined to provide any information about whether they’re looking into Coleman. So we’ve been calling Coleman’s office to ask whether he’s heard from investigators. In fact, in the last few weeks, we’ve left at least ten detailed voicemail messages for Leroy Coleman, the senator’s Washington press secretary (and no relation) asking exactly that question. And we’ve received no response whatsoever.