Republican Norm Coleman, trying to regain his U.S. Senate seat, visited the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday and didn't rule out an appeal if a Minnesota court rules against him in his recount battle against Democrat Al Franken.
One of Minnesota's two Senate seats has been vacant this year after the election in November was so close it triggered a statewide recount. Coleman's first Senate term expired in January, and he is contesting the recount outcome that put Franken ahead by 225 votes.
The uncertainty has eroded Democratic Party sway, and with it President Barack Obama's agenda, in the U.S. Senate. Democrats now control 58 of the 100 Senate seats, and they sometimes have struggled to get the 60 votes required to clear procedural hurdles under Senate rules.
The Minnesota court decision on Coleman's old seat could come any day, Coleman told reporters in the Capitol, where he had come to attend the Senate Republican's weekly luncheon and brief senators on his court battle.
"We'll have to see what they (the Minnesota judges) do and see what the next step is," Coleman said. "I'm not anticipating at this point being across the street," he continued, looking out the window at the U.S. Supreme Court building.
But "this is about getting it right," he said. "If this court doesn't do that, we'll kind of look at the next level."
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