Ted Stevens loses Senate Seat to Mark Begich

Good bye Uncle Ted, thanks for the memories:

Mr. Stevens, a Republican and a 40-year incumbent, was trailing his Democratic challenger, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, by 3,724 votes out of more than 315,000 cast after state election officials on Tuesday counted more than 35,000 absentee and other outstanding ballots.

Only an estimated 2,500 ballots remain to be counted next week, according to Gail Fenumiai, the state elections director...

Mr. Stevens, whose 85th birthday was Tuesday, was convicted last month in federal court in Washington of seven felony counts of failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations he received. He is the longest serving Republican in Senate history.

Mr. Stevens is a revered figure in Alaska, known for bringing billions of dollars in federal spending to the state. He took office just nine years after Alaska entered the union. Mr. Begich ran a cautious campaign, rarely criticizing Mr. Stevens directly, largely leaving that work to the coverage of Mr. Stevens’s trial and to aggressive advertisements paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Mr. Begich would be the first Democrat to represent Alaska in Congress in three decades. He says he will steer a different course from other Democrats in Washington on many issues including favoring drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In all seriousness, out of just pure empathy, I hope Uncle Ted doesn't spend the last remaining years of his life in prison. But I'm glad he's out. If he would have won, Sarah Palin very well could have made herself the Senator from Alaska. I know, scary.

Anyway, that makes 58 for the Democrats in the Senate with 2 seats still up for grabs...