Mark Brunswick and Pat Doyle
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Opening statements began promptly at 1 pm today as a three-judge panel convened today what could be a weeks- or months-long trial to decide who won Minnesota's U.S. Senate race. The trial, held at the Judicial Center in St. Paul, will resolve the election challenge Republican Norm Coleman has brought to certified recount results that show him trailing Democrat Al Franken by 225 votes. When the recount began in November, Coleman led by 215 votes.
Coleman was in the courtroom when the trial began, sitting at his lawyers' table.
Coleman was in the courtroom as the trial got underway. Franken was absent. Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg spoke first, saying the theme of Coleman's case would be simple: "If possible, every vote should be counted and nobody's vote should be counted more than once."