US Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he would move to give a noted comic actor and writer a seat in the chamber despite an elections lawsuit by his Republican foe.
"We're going to try to seat Al Franken," Reid told reporters after the Democrats held their weekly policy luncheon and hours before holding a photo opportunity and meeting with the tart-tongued commentator.
Franken, who rose to fame with the legendary Saturday Night Live program, has been locked in a post-election struggle with incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, whom he sought to unseat in November.
Reid dismissed Coleman's legal challenge to the recount that left Franken with a now-certified 225-vote edge out of nearly three million ballots cast, saying "the numbers just aren't there, he should concede."
"There's not a question in anyone's mind, an assertion by anyone, that there's been any fraud or wrongdoing in this election," he added.
Coleman's legal challenge, set to go to before a three-judge panel on January 26, hinges on a charge that absentee ballots were improperly rejected while some other votes were counted twice.
Reid said in a statement after meeting with Franken that he was focused on Franken's possible Senate committee assignments.
