Stevens Loses, Palin Not Needed

<http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Ted_Stevens_loses_Senate_seat_1118.html>
Nick Cargo
Published: Tuesday November 18, 2008
Alaska GOP Senator Ted Stevens has lost his bid for a seventh Senate term, the Associated Press reported. Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the United States Senate, has until tonight held his seat since 1968.

Democratic opponent Mark Begich, mayor of Anchorage, had an insurmountable lead of 3,724 votes in Tuesday's tally, with only 2,500 left to be counted.

On October 27, 85-year-old Stevens was convicted of seven felony counts of violating the Ethics in Government Act in connection with failure to report gifts and services worth over $250,000 received between 1999 and 2006 from Alaska oil services contractor VECO. Even if he had returned to Washington, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had already said on November 1 that Sen. Stevens would be subject to an ethics investigation followed by ejection.

On November 12, the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza took a guess during an appearance on MSNBC's Countdown that the Republican Party would prefer that Stevens not be re-elected: "I think they want a clean break with the last eight years," he said, "and they would almost rather--I don't say they would rather--but I think it is a debate whether they want Senator Stevens back or not."

Stevens will not be asking outgoing President Bush for a pardon. The services of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former running mate to Senator McCain, will also not be needed to appoint an interim replacement for Stevens.
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Comments

[Rene]

"The services of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former running mate to Senator McCain, will also not be needed to appoint an interim replacement for Stevens."

God is answering the prayers of the nation to keep the doors closed!

[Jeffrey Simons]

Hats off to Mark Begich for running a great campaign. He needed a solid electoral victory, but I am still baffled that a convicted felon would get 45% of the vote, especially after pre-election polls had Begich leading by more than 20 points.

Seems like the Republican Party is in a free-fall, but I give credit to Chuck Hagel and Ron Paul for their non-partisan comments and commitment to working with President-Elect Obama to get the country back on track.

Ron Paul's recent political commentary on cnn.com is a must read before the Republican Party even thinks about rolling out Sarah Palin in 2012:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/11/paul.republican/index.html

I think the hubris of the 2004 victories really sunk the Republican Party from its core conservative values of small government, respect of law, and individual freedom.

Great lesson for the Democrats, and it's refreshing that instead of gloating over his victory and chiding his opposition, Obama has ushered in an era of cooperation and collaboration. It's the kind of leadership we need on every level of government.

[Steve Sinai]

Anchorage must be proud to have named it's airport the "Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport." Wonder how long that will last.

Take Mineta's name off the San Jose airport, too. I hate it when run-of-the-mill politicians name public facilities after each other to feed their egos.