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."

Birmingham candidate Patrick Cooper continues to lead Google searches for "patrick cooper" just like he continues to pursue the mayor's office. Let's update the latter.

The day after the election, I wrote about Cooper alleging election day irregularities and pushing for a recount. "In a field of 10 candidates, according to the News, the winner drew 50% or 26,227 votes. Patrick Cooper pulled in 30% or 15,392 votes. Could 'irregularities' really have moved 20% of the vote?"

I heard quickly from a Birmingham couple who would have voted for Cooper had they received their ballots in time. This morning I received a second comment on the issue, this one coming anonymously.

The important thing here, Evanston Cooper, is that the mayors race in Birmingham would be forced into a runoff if the opponent, Larry Langford, recieved exactly 50%, without one vote over. He recieved 170 votes over 50%, and with 45,000 votes being cast, that's pretty close. So yes, it is a close race to achieve a runoff situation, and voting irregularities and provisional ballots could, and may still, change that. Just an explanation…

Checking the Web today, that comment appeared correct. "Voting officials finished counting provisional ballots last night," NBC 13 said, preparing for a noon handover. "The certification could determine whether there will be a runoff between Larry Langford and Patrick Cooper. The number of provisional ballots has been sealed so we don't know at this point whether there are enough to force a runoff."

At this hour, there's no strong word yet on that count. Al.com has a front page headline saying only nine ballots have joined the official tally, but the link goes nowhere. Meanwhile, the Birmingham Business Journal says Patrick Cooper is holding a press conference tomorrow. The nature of the event is unknown.

Previously:
-October 10: Patrick Cooper loses election bid, probably
-October 1: Patrick Cooper, the candidate

The results came in late last night. Despite the endorsement of The Birmingham News — "We believe Cooper is the best hope to break from the politics of the past and present and offer hope for Birmingham's future" — Patrick Cooper's campaign for mayor of the Alabama city ended in defeat. Or did it?

Cooper said he was ready to challenge the results, claiming there were problems at the polls.

"We're conceding nothing," he told supporters at WorkPlay after the results were in. "There are some irregularities. We're going to have a recount and we're confident we're going to win this. There is a margin of error, and we're going to look at it. We're going to get busy tomorrow morning."

In a field of 10 candidates, according to the News, the winner drew 50% or 26,227 votes. Patrick Cooper pulled in 30% or 15,392 votes. Could "irregularities" really have moved 20% of the vote? Things didn't look good for Patrick Cooper's campaign and his Google rank.

Previously:
-October 1: Patrick Cooper, the candidate

There's a man running for mayor in Birmingham. His name is Patrick Cooper. This Patrick Cooper, he has a website, "Patrick Cooper for Mayor." His name, Patrick Cooper, is everywhere on the site, as a campaign would dictate. And I have no doubt the local political sites mention this Patrick Cooper and link to him often.

If you recall, Web surfers looking for that Patrick Cooper accidentally visited this Patrick Cooper's site over the summer. I thought the effect was amusing. But earlier this month, Professor Amit e-mailed with rough news. Googling for "Patrick Cooper" found my site not in the top spot for the first time in years. Candidate Patrick Cooper had taken the top spot. That Patrick Cooper still held the spot as of this weekend.

In retrospect, the Patrick Cooper shift wasn't surprising. A campaign was a campaign, designed to get Patrick Cooper's name out to the public in any and all way's possible. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I had never been big on displaying my Patrick Cooper name on the site. The URL was all that was really necessary. I bent a little in the title bar and such, just to show Google who was here at patrickcooper.com. But my efforts were no Patrick Cooper political machine.

I recently looked up the date of the Birmingham election and found it was October 9. That day, I told friends, was the peak of that Patrick Cooper's Google popularity. Unless, they replied, he won.

I had to consider the possibility: Patrick Cooper, mayor of Birmingham. My professional responsibility kept me from immediately beginning a campaign against Patrick Cooper. I had nothing against him — or for him, for that matter. I knew nothing about him other than his name, Patrick Cooper, and what he was attempting to do. But I had to admit a little interest today to find Patrick Cooper behind in the polls. In a Birmingham News poll released Sunday, Patrick Cooper was in second, trailing by 8%, with 18% undecided and 4.9% margin of error.

My best course of action seemed to be to explain the issue to the robots at Google. I would write a post explaining how I was Patrick Cooper and how there was now this other Patrick Cooper. Maybe mentioning my name a bit would help explain things? While I hadn't mentioned it much in the past, now appeared to be the right time.

Update at 5:15 p.m. ET: My visitor logs show a dozen visitors in the last day or so from Birmingham. Welcome! I am not the guy.

It was one of those days where it feels like no matter how many people you talk to, you're not making much of a connection. Things compounded watching Goodfellas after work. I'd never seen it before, and now I just want to get in a fight. "Bleep you," I just want to hear, just so I can give a "Bleep me? Bleep you." That's healthy, right?

When Ebert wrote his review in '90, here was the lede. "For two days after I saw Martin Scorsese's new film, GoodFellas, the mood of the characters lingered within me, refusing to leave. It was a mood of guilt and regret, of quick stupid decisions leading to wasted lifetimes, of loyalty turned into betrayal. Yet at the same time there was an element of furtive nostalgia, for bad times that shouldn't be missed, but were."

But I like this graf from the May 28 New Yorker.

This is food to fuel hedonistic abandon; libations are in order. If you don't know Cephalonia from Paros, the sommelier, Dana Gaiser, will provide a crash course: Cephalonia's in the Ionian islands-its wines reflect a strong Venetian influence; Paros is on the other side of the country, in the Aegean. By the second bottle (a Mandilaria-Monemvasia blend from Paros), your dining companion will be boasting of his own Greek lineage ("My family was from Sparta, you know"). Across the way, a vaguely arty group of twenty-somethings (seersucker and T-shirts, mussed hair) loll in grand Dionysian style. Fair warning: ambrosia doesn't come cheap. At the stroke of midnight, their bill arrives and the revellers' faces turn gray.

It's got something for you when you're happy and something when you're not. So does this from McSweeney's, "The Lonely Sommelier: Beverage Pairings From My Kitchen." It's my favorite of theirs in a while. And this is a house, Birdwood, my family tree traces back through. It came up in conversation earlier this week. It's for sale, or at least it was. I'm just blowing links now.

I love Italian food and I love this next sentence from a Post story, but I'm glad I never went here to eat. "In pinstriped, blow-dried, ever-ceremonial Washington, A.V.'s was unabashedly devoid of artifice, a place where a hardhat could sit next to a congressman, and both could end up sighing and looking at their watches as they waited for the famously surly waiters to bring their dishes."

There's a man named Patrick Cooper apparently running for mayor of Birmingham. One person linked to Cooper's anti-crime plan from an eBay page for Zan's Antiques and Textiles. A second person visited that eBay page today, saw the link, typed my address in their browser, and came here. Hey to you. Plenty of textiles, plenty of crime here.