SAY WHAT?

"We are filing this contest to make absolutely sure every valid vote was counted and no one's was counted more than anyone else's. ... Something greater than expediency is at stake here. Democracy is not a machine. Sometimes it's messy and inconvenient, and reaching the best conclusion is never quick because speed is not the first objective, fairness is."

Republican Norm Coleman, filing a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Democrat Al Franken's (LEFT) recount victory in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race. Coleman, whose term expired Saturday, led Franken by 215 votes on election night. Democratic officials kept re-counting votes from selected precincts till Franken took a 225-vote lead, then stopped.

The Coleman lawsuit is "essentially the same thin gruel, warmed-over leftovers from meals we've all been served over the last few weeks."

Marc Elias, attorney for professional comedian and Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken.

For Israel to accept a cease-fire in Gaza, "There has to be a total and complete cessation of all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, and ... we have to see an arms embargo on Hamas that will receive international support."

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev, Jan. 7.

"There must be a guarantee to ensure Israel will ... halt the aggression, lifting the blockade and opening the crossings."

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas advisor, explaining the terms under which Hamas will accept a cease-fire in Gaza, from which Palestinians fired more than 3,000 missiles into Israel over the past year.