A hand recount of nearly three million votes begins in Minnesota today to determine the winner of a disputed and extraordinarily close Senate race, one of three yet-to-be decided contests that could still give Democrats the coveted 60-seat “super-majority” in the upper chamber.

The Minnesota contest is already being compared to the 2000 Florida recount debacle – attorneys have descended and lawsuits have begun – but it is only one part of a drama that is turning the November 4 election into a contest that refuses to end.

Two other Senate races, in Alaska and Georgia, are also undecided, although last night it appeared that the Alaska race had gone to the Democratic candidate. Democratic victories in all three would give them a filibuster-proof majority that would leave Republicans largely powerless to block Barack Obama’s legislative agenda.

The three races are getting national scrutiny not only because of they could tip farther the balance of power on Capitol Hill, but also for the characters involved: the mix of incumbents and challengers includes a convicted criminal, a comedian and a senator who once said that security in his state would be improved by arresting “every Muslim that crosses the state line”.

The recount of 2.9 million ballots begins in Minnesota to decide the contest between Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent, and Al Franken, the comedian and liberal talk show host, after Mr Coleman led his opponent by only 206 votes at the close of the first count. The recount is expected to take a month. Mr Franken has filed a lawsuit demanding that the names of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected be handed over to his campaign.

Lawyers and volunteers will also be peering over shoulders at 110 locations because they are focused on the 34,000 “residual ballots” that will be scrutinised. These are ballot papers where a preference was not properly registered, or too many options were filled out. Historically, such ballots, when reallocated, have favoured the Democratic candidate, and Mr Franken believes that they are the key to victory.

In Alaska, only 2,500 absentee ballots were left to be tallied last night. The Republican incumbent, Ted Stevens – who, a week before the election, was convicted of corruption – appeared to have lost the race to Mark Begich, the Democratic Mayor of Anchorage, as Mr Stevens trailed Mr Begich by 3,724 votes.

Mr Stevens, who was 85 yesterday, is the longest-serving Republican senator in history and a Capitol Hill legend, who has brought enormous amounts of “pork-barrel” federal spending back to Alaska. He was convicted of seven felony charges, based on the concealment of gifts and services he received from an Alaska company to which he was accused of steering federal contracts.He narrowly beat Mr Begich but as the recount has progressed he has slipped behind.

Wins for Mr Franken and Mr Begich would give their party a 59-seat majority in the Senate, which could leave Saxby Chambliss, the Republican incumbent in Georgia, the one man needed to thwart Democratic dreams of a filibuster-proof majority.

Mr Chambliss, who made the remark about blocking Muslims from his state soon after the September 11 attacks and later apologised, beat his challenger, Jim Martin, by 50 per cent to 47 per cent on November 4. Yet his failure to pass the 50 per cent barrier triggered an automatic run-off election, which will be held on December 2.

Both parties are pouring money and resources into the state. John McCain appeared at a rally with Mr Chambliss last week and Bill Clinton will appear in Atlanta with Mr Martin today.

Mr Obama is not expected to travel to Georgia, but has left open 25 of his general election field offices across the state. One big concern for Mr Martin is that the President-elect will not be on the ballot this time around. On November 4 his historic nomination led to a huge turnout of African-American voters, who might stay at home for the run-off.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats voted yesterday not to expel Joe Lieberman from the party, after he backed John McCain in the general election. With the party so close to a 60-seat majority, the expulsion of Mr Lieberman – despite what many viewed as treasonous behaviour – was never a serious option.

TAKING THE LONG VIEW

— A 60-seat majority in the Senate is so critical because it allows a party to cut short an opposition filibuster, and bring legislation to a vote. A filibuster is a tactic to debate a Bill to death, by talking down the clock and blocking it from ever being voted on. Sixty votes are needed to cut short a filibuster

— The word “filibuster” comes from the Dutch word for freebooter, or pirate. Members of the US Senate delay the passage of legislation by tabling large numbers of amendments, raising spurious points of order or making excessively long speeches

— Unlimited debate was allowed in the Senate until 1917, when Woodrow Wilson introduced a rule that a two-thirds majority (67 members) would close a filibuster. In 1975 this was reduced to three fifths (60 members).

— In 1919, when a filibuster held up a vote on the Treaty of Versailles, the Senate invoked a two-thirds vote

— Huey Long, a Louisiana Senator, read recipes for oyster dishes aloud to delay proceedings and protest against policies he thought unfair to the poor

— Strom Thurmond's 1957 stand against civil rights legislation took the form of a 24-hour monologue, which set the record for the longest individual filibuster

— The previous record (22 hours) was held by Wayne Morse, during a 1953 filibuster against Tidelands Oil legislation

— The most famous filibuster occurs in Frank Capra's 1939 film Mr Smith Goes to Washington, in which an “average Joe” Jefferson

— Smith, played by James Stewart, takes on crooked politicians with a 23-hour filibuster

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