Al Franken Claims Decisive Lead in Senate Race

Tuesday December 23, 2008 11:20 AM EST

Al Franken

Eric Miller/Landov

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Yahoo Buzz
• E-mail

Claiming a 35- to 50-vote lead over Republican opponent Norm Coleman, former Saturday Night Live regular Al Franken is declaring that he will win Minnesota's contested U.S. Senate seat race.

"We are more confident than ever that Al Franken will be the winner of this election," reads a posting on the Democrat's Web site.

Only not so fast, counters the Coleman campaign. "This process is still a long way form being complete," the incumbent said in a statement. The state canvassing board is set to complete its work counting votes today, Bloomberg.com reports.

The Coleman camp insists 100 votes have been double-counted, and has announced that it intends to go to the state Supreme Court to lodge a protest.
– Stephen M. Silverman