Begich claims win over Stevens for Alaska Senate Seat
Posted by admin on November 20, 2008
Republican Lawmaker Ted Stevens, who was convicted earlier this year of felony corruption charges, seems to have been defeated in his quest to become re-elected. Despite his hair loss problem Mark Begich, a Democrat, has claimed victory in the race according to a press release from the Democrat’s campaign. Unofficial results coming in from state officials do seem to collaborate with Begich’s claim.
As to why the results are coming in now, a good two weeks after the election: absentee ballots. The race has garnered much attention from Democrats, who seek a virtual bullet proof vest regarding any possible filibusters from the minority Republicans in the Senate. The magic number to bust any filibuster is 60. Final counts in Minnesota and Georgia are still being tabulated.
According to results that have already been posted, Begich leads the felon, err, Republican, by 3,724 votes. 2500 overseas votes have yet to be counted.
The amazing thing is that Begich, formerly Mayor of Anchorage, only led by 47 percent. While it is a common saying these days that all politicians are crooked, it takes a special bunch of people to give one that is proven to be crooked 46 percent of the vote.
Stevens, in the latest case of “why can’t anyone admit they did wrong and move on”, still maintains his innocence, even though he has already been convicted. According to Prosecutors, Stevens failed to disclose hundreds of thousands dollars of “freebies” from an oil-field services company. And we all wonder why the price of gas, while cheaper, remains at high levels. The absolutely astonishing thing is that in this political climate, where consumers are so frustrated by record profits and record gouging by oil companies, Stevens ran at all. You have to admit, the man has stones. The scary thing is he was not that far away from winning. Apparently we have some die hard Republicans in Alaska, regardless of what the home information packs say about their candidate.