Alaska passes on convicted felon, Ted Stevens, and elects democratic challenger, Mark Begich to the US Senate. The nation is spared, or denied, depending upon your point of view, the spectacle of watching Sarah Palin run for Senate for the time being.
Begich claimed victory, saying, “I am humbled and honored to serve Alaska in the U.S. Senate.”
The loss came on Stevens’ 85th birthday. The 40-year incumbent is the longest serving Republican in the history of the U.S. Senate.
Stevens could ask for a recount but his campaign would have to pay for it. The state pays if the margin is within .5 percent of the total votes cast. But Begich leads by just over 1 percent with more than 315,000 votes cast in the race.
Had Stevens been reelected he would have been the first convicted felon in the Senate and would have forced Congress to expel him for accepting gifts from an oil company executive.
A Washington, D.C., jury convicted Stevens of seven felonies for lying on his financial disclosure forms about more than $250,000 in gifts, including renovations of his Girdwood home. The gifts came from Bill Allen, chief of the oilfield services company Veco Corp. and the man at the center of corruption in Alaska politics.
Another Senate race down and still two to go with the Minnesota and Georgia still undecided, although Nate Silver at FiveThiryEight.com speculates that Al Franken may have an advantage over Norm Coleman in the Minnesota race.
