American comic and liberal radio host Al Franken, known for his tenure at Saturday Night Live, may be heading to the United States Senate as the representative of Minnesota. In a long-fought recount after the November election, final results favoured Franken but were quickly contested by his Republican Party rival Norm Coleman on Jan. 6, 2009. Now a Minnesota state panel will hear the case at the end of January because of Coleman’s claims that there were ballot counting irregularities.