[classicman]

I'm afraid this isn't even close to being over....

Coleman to argue Franken won by bogus recount

An election-night count showed Coleman, who was the incumbent senator from Minnesota, ahead by a few hundred votes. A recount handed victory to his opponent, Democrat Al Franken, by 225 votes. About 3 million ballots were cast in the race.

"We have a good shot at this, and so I proceed with that in mind," Coleman said last week, calling Franken's lead "artificial."

To aid in his battle, Coleman has retained Ben Ginsberg, the lawyer who led the Florida recount efforts for the Republican side during the disputed presidential election in 2000.

Coleman's attorneys plan to argue three points:

• That nearly 12,000 absentee ballots rejected on Election Day should be recounted because at least 4,500 of them were discarded in error. If those ballots are allowed, they could flip the race back in Coleman's favor.

• That the canvassing board did not use a uniform standard when it counted 933 ballots from the discarded pile of absentee ballots. Those 933 gave Franken the edge.

• That some votes were counted twice, which also worked in Franken's favor.

The Franken side will ask the Minnesota Supreme Court on February 5 to order Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to issue a temporary election certificate so Franken can be seated in the Senate. Both men have refused, saying they will wait until the matter is resolved.