The latest in continuing coverage of an election involving candidates whose politics I don't know and whose Alabama location I don't live anywhere near, but only care about because one candidate is named Patrick Cooper and he's taken our shared name's top spot from me on Google. Which isn't a big deal except when I have two minutes to kill.

The fun continued after I posted mid-week. After the provisional ballots seemed to come up short on problems, candidate Patrick Cooper moved on Tuesday to challenging the winner's city residency. The Birmingham News had the story.

"I'm going to contest it," Cooper said. "Larry Langford has perpetrated a fraud on the residents of Birmingham."

Prior to the election, Langford, a longtime Fairfield resident, rented a loft in downtown Birmingham and had his voter registration changed to that address. He said he intended to buy a house in Birmingham after the election.

While he did keep some clothes in the downtown loft, he said the building didn't allow pets, and he and his wife continued to care for their family dog, Zach, at their Fairfield home.

The News then reported on Cooper's Wednesday press conference about the claims. "Cooper contends Langford spent virtually every night at his Fairfield home, that he never put a 'For Sale' sign in front of his house, that his homestead exemption remains at his Fairfield home, and that his driver license, vehicle registration, paychecks and bills list the Fairfield address," the paper said. The Birmingham Business Journal had more fun.

During a Wednesday press conference at his downtown campaign office, Cooper played footage from an ABC 33/40 video he said was filmed on Sept. 27 at Langford's leased space at Blach's Lofts. The footage shows an empty hallway and room. Cooper said the footage proves Langford didn't live in Birmingham in the months leading up to the Oct. 9 election but maintained residence in Fairfield.

The area's blogosphere had mixed reaction. On The Terminal and Birmingham Blues, commenters tended to lean in Cooper's direction. Mike's Space was against him, and Key West or Bust was for him.

On Friday, the local court system set a trial date of mid-November. Read the filings here. The News editorial board weighed in today: "It's hard to see how Patrick Cooper or Birmingham wins if his legal challenge over Mayor-elect Larry Langford's residency is successful."

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