NATIONAL BRIEFING / MINNESOTA

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he wouldn’t run for a third term, even though the state doesn’t have term limits. Pawlenty, 48, said he’d impose them on himself.

“Time marches on, and now it’s time to give someone else a chance,” he said.

Pawlenty, whose term lasts 19 more months, also said he would follow the state Supreme Court’s direction on whether to issue an election certificate in the disputed U.S. Senate race.

Republican Norm Coleman, whose term expired in January, is contesting the recount that tipped the race to Democrat Al Franken by a few hundred votes. Pawlenty said he’ll follow the state Supreme Court’s direction on the certificate and won’t “hold it up or delay it in any fashion.”

If Franken is seated, he would be the 60th vote that Democrats could count on -- the minimum required to avert a filibuster. The Senate’s two independents caucus with the Democrats.