by Damozel | When all the votes were counted, Alaska rejected the Senate bid of the convicted felon. I should be happy, damn it. I am happy. On the other hand....poor old man, I can hardly bear to look at his picture. When I do, I feel like crying. He looks like my grandfather. And---oh, God; I can hardly bear it---"The loss came on Stevens' 85th birthday. The 40-year incumbent is the
longest serving Republican in the history of the U.S. Senate." (Anchorage Daily News).
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens lost his job to Mark Begich on Tuesday, putting an end to the era of "Uncle Ted" as the dominant force in Alaska politics
Begich, the Democratic mayor of Anchorage, widened his lead to 3,724 votes in Tuesday's count of absentee and questioned ballots. The lead is insurmountable, as the only votes left to count are approximately 2,500 ballots from overseas.
Begich claimed victory, saying, "I am humbled and honored to serve Alaska in the U.S. Senate."(ADN)
I don't know. I am so glad that Stevens lost and I ought to be glad that he is being held accountable...but I am not. (My co-bloggers: "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" No. Yes. Uh...no. Wait. Yes, I am, actually.)
I am in a minority. Even Republican bloggers are glad to see him get his just deserts.
Ted Stevens lost his reelection bid, but he did lose it narrowly. It's interesting that he lost it with the absentee and early votes that may have come in either right before or just as the news of his conviction was in the headlines. Perhaps voters who voted later may have realized that a convicted Stevens couldn't continue to serve and so a vote for Stevens was actually a vote for a new election with a Republican candidate who wasn't also a felon.
It's a blessing to the Republicans not to have to defend this guy or have him in their caucus anymore. That's the good news. And representing a solidly Republican electorate as Alaska is, Senator Begich will not be a sure vote for every liberal idea of the Reid-led Senate. But he'll be for enough and he'll bring them one step closer to the 60 seats they need for a filibuster-proof Senate.
This whole sorry saga is a testament to Senator Stevens' selfishness. He could have retired at age 85 once he was indicted and given a chance for a Republican who was not accused of bribery to win the seat. Instead he was full of his own self importance and convinced not only that he would be acquitted, but that Alaska should be represented by a guy who would be 91 by the end of his term. It is no surrender for a guy who is 85 years old to retire. Obviously, he was thinking of himself more than of the ideals he claims to represent. Of course, what did the guy really represent but a powerful desire to shovel more federal dollars back to his state?
He thought he was so powerful and important that he was immune from having to obey silly little rules like not accepting $250,000 in gifts from oil company interest and then not reporting the gifts. Such hubris! And we know what happens to men with hubris. Senator Stevens deserves all the obloquy and punishment coming to him. (Betsy's Page)
Bu-but: 85 years old! 85! Why couldn't they get him before he reached his 85th birthday? And how can anyone feel anything but sickened by the whole thing? I admit that I usually am free of sympathy for white collar criminals (who typically do much more damage than the other kind). And I am certainly free of sympathy for people who give oil companies a free ride, regardless of whether they get home renovations in return.
And it's just another sign of everything that's wrong with both the system and the way it works that the old guy is being punished after 40 years and that Bush and Cheney and Co. are going to walk away scot-free....though one brave Texas prosecutor seems to have indicted them. And let's not forget all the taxpayer dollars being poured into Wall Street to save it from the consequences of making bets with imaginary money.
As for this "earmark" issue: let's not forget that getting federal money shovelled to their states is part of the reason why voters send representatives to Congress. Sarah Palin was more than happy to take big hands full of taxpayer dollars till she was running for president.
So would any state governor be. I agree it's wasteful and I certainly think it should be restrained, but Stevens' ability to get money for Alaska is one reason they kept returning him. Betsy should be blaming Alaskan Republican voters, if anyone. He lost by less than 4000 votes. Even in Alaska, that's not that many.
Wonkette points up the really strange aspect to the story, aside from the fact that a convicted felon was not only running but came close to beating the guy who isn't a convicted felon:
The Senate GOP Conference delayed a vote today on expelling Ted Stevens from their weird little club. They want to wait to see how the Alaska vote turns out!
LG&M adds a cautionary caveat.
. . Good riddance, Ted. The margin looks to be outside the .5% margin for an automatic recount.... Stevens and/or ten of his friends could still pay for one himself, though.
Time for a happier note.
Take it away, Alaskan blogger MUDFLATS!
Mark Begich has officially won the Senate seat. Alaskans have done something right.
That means that my red red state isn’t so red anymore. We have just elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time in 30 years! OK, I know….it took running against a seven time convicted felon to do it, and it was still really really close… but nobody better snow on my parade!
I’m having a small-scale flashback to election night, when I felt, for the first time in a long time that there was someone out there who was representing me who was actually representing me! I feel suddenly relevant…light in my heart…with something that feels like a golf ball lodged in my throat.
I truly never thought I’d see this day. When I first moved to Alaska, almost 2 decades ago, I was told by my future spouse that the only thing that would get Stevens and Young out of office was the grim reaper. Who could have known about those undeclared home renovations?
Mudflats is happy, and I am happy too, that Alaska is now 1/3 blue.
Now I am going to go off somewhere to shed a tear for Ted Steven---yet another failed American institution, though with no bail-out in sight. If Bush is going to be pardoning everyone in his administration, as some predict, I say he should pardon Stevens as well. The old scapegrace can render an accounting to God.
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