And here we go...........
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28495674/MINNEAPOLIS - Republican Norm Coleman said Tuesday he is suing to challenge Democrat Al Franken's apparent recount victory in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, delaying a resolution of the contest for weeks or months.
At a Capitol news conference filled with cheering supporters, Coleman said he won't accept a board's determination a day earlier that Franken won 225 more votes in the November election. He had a seven-day window to file the lawsuit.
"We are filing this contest to make absolutely sure every valid vote was counted and no one's was counted more than anyone else's," Coleman said.
Coleman shrugged off the idea that he might concede the election to avoid a protracted fight that could leave Minnesota with only a single senator in Washington for months.
"Something greater than expediency is at stake here," Coleman said. He added: "Democracy is not a machine. Sometimes it's messy and inconvenient, and reaching the best conclusion is never quick because speed is not the first objective, fairness is."
State law prevents officials from issuing an election certificate until legal matters are resolved.
Coleman, whose term expired Saturday, led Franken by 215 votes in the Nov. 4 count but that advantage flipped during a prolonged recount. Coleman's lawyers say recount inconsistencies and election irregularities should be reviewed by a special three-judge panel.
Here's the basis for his election contest :
http://www.startribune.co...yc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DUColeman, whose Senate term ended on Saturday, began the recount on Nov. 19 with a 215-vote lead. His attorneys have said they believe he would have prevailed if the board had reviewed 650 absentee ballots they say may have been wrongly rejected, along with up to 150 ballots they say were counted twice and 133 Minneapolis votes that were counted using election day machine results after the ballots couldn't be found during the hand recount.
