i expect to be able to do this sometime in the middle of august. >> general, we have reached the end of the allocated time for this. let me throw it back to you one last time to see if you have any final thoughts that you would like to share with us and then let you get on your way. >> i would just say that today was an extremely important day for iraq and it is psychologically important to them. it is important that they have made progress with the security forces, that they make forces where they can take charge in side of the cities. it is important for us that we understand this and recognize this and allow them to recognize that authority. it is important for us to fill

in that role as it continues to adjust and to maintain the adaptability we have shown and as we continue to change and to show our initiatives in order to give improved security. we continue to have the best soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines in the world. the sacrifices are incredible. ask each and everyone of you that you remember all of our soldiers who are deployed around the world both here and in afghanistan. remember their sacrifice and their families sacrifices. thank you so much for being here. i'm sorry i lost my temper a little bit on the numbers. i do not want to be inaccurate to you all on the numbers. if i give you a number, it is not going to be right. in a significantly less of what it is today. it is significantly lower visible on the grounds -- less

on the ground. i feel confident we are on the right track. thank you very much. all of you have a great fourth of july. >> thank you for your time. thank you for the inside be the only get from this commander burda thank you. we look forward to doing this sometime down the road. >> thank you. >> the heritage foundation previews the trip to russia and looks at the state of u.s.- russia relations. later, we will bring you the president appearing at a town hall meeting in virginia where he will talk about his health care plan. you can watch live coverage

beginning at 1:15 p.m. eastern. >> how is c-span funded? >> publicly funded. >> donations. >> the government. >> taxes. >> public funding, maybe, i don't know. >> how is c-span funded? >> 30 years ago, it was created as a public service by your cable companies. >> on tuesday, the state supreme court ruled al franken the winner against incumbent norm coleman.

>> al franken onwon. the lower court decision from earlier this spring was correct. he had a 312 flow lead out of nearly 3 million cast. as a result, the ruling was decisive and it up held the sweeping ruling. coleman had little recourse but to concede. >> al franken spoke shortly after mr. kohl man conceded. what did he say? >> he talked about how he was humbled by the victory and he was looking forward to representing minnesota. he said he is going to except some committee assignments including on the senate health

committee insuring that he will play a role in developing a broad health reform package that democrats were trying to push through in july. also the judiciary committee which is hearing the nomination of sonia sotomayor. tomorrow they are having a victory rally in minneapolis. >> there has been talk about more appeals from norm coleman, what did he say? >> he said that he has taken all of the arguments before the court and they have all been rejected and he has no recourse. he is right about that. they went through all of the steps in the process, they looked at a number of the

arguments and they formally rejected them. the same thing happened here before the state supreme court including some of his constitutional arguments. he has said that the election officials were using different standards reviewing absentee ballots which is a violation of the equal protection clause. this was rejected by the state supreme court. it has been a long process but now it ends. >> you mentioned al franken's committee assignments, how does this affect the senate? >> now the democrats have 60 seats. if they stay united, they can beat filibusters' which is the last real lever of power for the republicans.

they have a very diverse caucus, ideologically speaking. there are a key senators that has been casting for much of this year -- absent for much of this year. kennedy is still recovering from brain cancer. it might be a symbolic thing for now. republicans are already saying that democrats have no excuses. they have the votes. that might not be the case. >> thank you. >> now the public statements from norm coleman and al franken.

>> my wife is in rome. i am sure she is at peace with the decision. i just had a conversation with al franken congratulating him on his victory. i told him that it is the best job he will ever have. ours is a government of laws, not men and women. the supreme court has spoken and i respect his decision and i abide by its results. it is time for us to come together and move forward. i congratulate our newest senator. just a few words about my legal challenge, i wanted to wind, not just myself but my wonderful

supporters who have worked so hard and have put so much into this effort. also for the important fell years i have fought for. i thought it was important to stand up for those whose votes were not counted. floating is fundamental. it is the essence of democracy. -- voting is fundamental. i am grateful the people of minnesota have given me the honor of representing hithem. the path that i take in the future is not nearly as important as the day as the past that we must travel one together to strengthen our state. these are the most challenging times. i have never believed that my service is irreplaceable. we have reached the point where

further litigation damages the unity of our state. in these tough times, we need to focus on the future and the future is that we have a new senator. i congratulate al franken and his victory, he enjoys the advantage that we have, we represent minnesota. he has an amazing work ethic to get things done and this will help him greatly. i think we should all take a moment to thank [unintelligible] and her staff. i'd don't reach this point with any big regrets.

as for my future plans, that is the subject for another day. we live in a great country and a great state. we can have confidence, we will a ride at a better future. -- arrive at a better future. may god bless minnesota. >> this obviously means that we have ruled out any appeals. >> i have ruled out any appeals, the election is over. we shall work together to support our new center. >> [inaudible] why did you step away from other

legal options? >> we have been through a long process and i wanted a chance to raise the issues that we thought should be raised. we went to the highest court in the state. the issues have been heard. this is the first court the full the considered the equal protection and they considered it and they rejected it. we want to make sure that voters had their votes counted. also the challenges that we face by just having one senator. it is now time to come together to put this behind us and to move forward. >> [unintelligible] >> from the very beginning, if i did not believe that, i would not have processed the appeal. but as history. i am not looking back, i'm not

questioning what has been counted or not counted. we are a nation of laws, not men and women. it is time to look forward to. >> [inaudible] >> i think we have learned about the nature of absentee process because we have not looked at it this close. i anticipate that we will have a more uniform process at how ballots are counted. i think we have learned, you always do, you learn from mistakes in your challenges. this is an unprecedented time. in the end, you will have to make judgments that he will make and other senators to make judgments that they make. not everyone votes in lockstep.

the pundits always had a lot of discussion about that, i never felt any pressure about that. what i felt was a commitment to getting it right and i felt that it was fundamentally important that every vote he counted and i wanted to pursue this as far as we could and we have. and never really worried about 60 votes or 59 votes, the national pundits talked about that. [inaudible] >> we will have to see. we will have to see. it is not just about him, it is other senators. senator specter was a republican, now he is a democrat. annow people are focusing on ths

number of 60. many democrats don't vote with the democratic party line. it might that be as big an issue as some pundits think. >> [inaudible] >> i believe that others will be talking about this election in the past and maybe into the future. i am focused on saying that we have a senator and i congratulated that a senator. i'm not looking forward to more discussion about this election. for the media, this has been a godsend.

the fourth estate is worried about their economic future, this has been a full employment for the media. if there is some more juice to be squeezed out of what happened, like that play itself out. whenever i can do to be a unifying force, that is what i will do. >> what is your legacy? >> i start with the stuff that is not get the most publicity and that is the people and the work that we did. there is nothing more gratifying -- i was sitting at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago and a family celebrating and a woman comes over and she showed me the picture of mheard little baby. the work that we did in the united nations, the oversight,

the work with our farmers and producers is, energy. i has been a voice of energy independence and renewals for a long time and i will continue to be involved in those discussions. i have been blessed to represent the people in the greatest state in the nation. a lot of great ideas, they did not come from sitting on a desk in washington, they came from farmer out of formewilmer. i am proud of my service and i'm here today to offer my congratulations. >> [inaudible]

>> i talked to the governor and let him know that i was coming out here to make his life easier and to say he was calling to do what the court said. this is a time now to look forward and to seize the opportunity that we have had. let's all work together for a broadebrighter future. [applause] >> thank you, everyone. thank you for being here. thank you so much. we are so thrilled that we can finally celebrate this victory and i am so excited to be able to get to work for the people of minnesota.

i received a very gracious call from sender: maator coleman a le while ago. we agreed it is time to bring the state together. over the last 8 months, as the nation has watched this all on fold in this state, minnesota and have earned the right to take pride in the transparency and the thoroughness of our process and in the integrity of our election officials. during at the same time, families have continued to face real challenges. even though we are thrilled and honored by the face that the people of this state have placed in me, i am also humble, not the just by the closeness of this election but by the enormity of the responsibility that comes

with this office. we have a lot of work to do in washington, but that is why i signed up for the job in the first place. when we started this campaign way back in february of 2007, i said that americans have never backed away from tough challenges and we have always led the way here in minnesota. working with our fantastic senior senator, i'm going to fight hard to make quality health care accessible and affordable to all people of minnesota and make sure that our children have an education that prepares them for the 21st century. to make minnesota the epicenter of a new renewable energy economy that frees us from our dependence on foreign oil. to restore the are standing in the world and put people to work here at home.

to those people who have worked forming, volunteered for me, voted for me, i cannot tell you how grateful i am. when you win an election is close, you know that not one bit of effort went to waste. to those that devoted their time and energy to supporting senator coleman, i can only imagine how hard these months have been. no matter whether you voted for me or for senator coleman, i wanted people to know that i'm ready to work for all of you. i'm committed to being a voice for all people of minnesota in the u.s. senate. when i am sworn in, i will be the 60th member of the democratic caucus but that is not how i see it. the way i see it, i'm not going

to be the 60th senator in washington, i'm going there as the second senator from minnesota. that is how i'm going to do this job. [applause] i promise to do my best, to work hard, to stand on principle when i believe i must and, yes, to compromise when i believe that that is in the best interest of the people of minnesota. so, on behalf of my wife and our beautiful children, let me say thank you to the people of minnesota for your patience, for your thoughts and prayers, and for giving me the opportunity to work for you in washington, i cannot wait to get started. [applause]

i will take a few questions. thank you. >> [inaudible] how difficult will it be to come in so much later than anyone else? >> i cannot tell you when i will be seated but i think it will be early next week. it will be coming in in mid- session and this will be more difficult than having started january 6th. i have been trying to keep abreast of what has been going on and i will do the best i can. >> [inaudible] >> it was a very gracious call, and must stay. he said it was a very hard

fought campaign. i said, it could not be closer. i said that we can only imagine what this is like for him and his family. he just said this is going to be the best job you will ever have. >> [inaudible] >> yes, i think it will be. when the weight of all this was finally offered your shoulders -- >> yes, i think it will be. -- when the weight of this was finally off of your shoulders -- >> it was a really nice moment between two people who really fought hard. he could not have been more gracious. that is what i felt in a moment, this is nice.

>> have you talked to the leadership about your committee assignments? what have you been doing for the past few months? >> well, i talked to the majority leader, he called after the decision was announced. i will be on the health education, labor, and pension committee, which i'm very happy about. i will be on the judiciary committee, i will be on indian affairs, which i asked for. we have been doing a lot. i have been going back and forth to washington. i have a staff in place. i can hit the ground trotting, if not running. i have been trying to keep abreast of what is going on in

the senate. this is not the same as being there, though. i have been meeting a lot of people around the state. my wife and i had been having many people over for dinner that can help us. >> how many more people do you have to hire? >> you should send your thing to -- i'm not sure. we are getting pretty staff ued up. we are pretty far along,

actually. >> [inaudible] >> well, as i said, i see myself more as a second senator from minnesota. i was in a coffee shop the other day and then met a man who had just become a citizen. i said, well, you might know more about our government and how it works than many americans. what were some of the questions. he said, how many senators are there. he said, i put 100. i said, there's 99. we lefaughed.

i really see myself as the hundredth senator. i will be jr. to 99 senators. also, to do the work of the people of minnesota. as far as the 60 is concerned, this is a magic number but it is not. we know that we have senators, republicans that will vote with the democrats, but the majority of democrats in certain votes and some democrats that will vote with the majority of the republicans and others. it is not quite a match the number as some say. i hope that we do get the agenda through. >> norm coleman stops short of

saying who got the most votes. is that concerned? >> well, you had 12 judges look through the whole process. they all agreed unanimously that i when one of the majorit-- thai won more votes. this has been as painstaking as possible. it is 12 judges, democrats and republicans, independents,