Former comedian Al Franken was declared the top vote-getter Monday in Minnesota's long-disputed U.S. Senate race, but incumbent Republican Norm Coleman pledged an immediate legal challenge that could delay the final outcome for months.
The Senate is scheduled to convene today with one other seat in doubt: Roland Burris' appointment to succeed President-elect Barack Obama in the chamber is under challenge. If Franken eventually is seated, along with a Democratic appointee from Illinois, the party still would be one vote shy of a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority.
"After 62 days, after the careful and painstaking inspection of nearly 3 million ballots, after hours and hours of hard work by elections officials and volunteers across the state, I am proud and humbled to stand before you as the next senator from Minnesota," Franken said after the state canvassing board endorsed the results of a recount that gave the former "Saturday Night Live" star a 225-vote lead.
But Coleman, whose term expired Saturday, did not concede, and his lawyers said they would file a legal challenge to block final certification by Minnesota's Republican governor and the secretary of state. Before the recount, Coleman was ahead by 215 of the 2.9 million votes cast.
His lawyers said Monday that the incumbent had "serious problems" with the recount, including the counting of a batch of ballots discovered after election night, the alleged double-counting of some ballots and the validation of 133 votes that had no ballots to support them. Coleman's camp also plans to ask for a review of the Minnesota Supreme Court's preliminary decision Monday not to include 654 disputed absentee ballots.
"This process isn't at the end. It is now just at the beginning. We will contest the results of the canvassing board. Otherwise, literally millions of Minnesotans will be disenfranchised," Coleman campaign counsel Tony Trimble told reporters.
Trimble said the challenge would be filed within 24 hours of the board's certification vote Monday afternoon.
Analysts said the next round of hearings and evidence gathering could take weeks or months. The determination would be made by a three-judge panel appointed by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak said it would be premature for the incumbent to concede.
