Weeks after being convicted in federal court for failing to report nearly $250,000 in gifts, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska finds himself over 800 votes behind Democratic challenger Mark Begich. The process of counting the nearly 90,000 absentee ballots began yesterday, and although nearly 50,000 have been counted thus far, the race may stretch into next week. We’ve spent some time covering Sen. Stevens’ trials and tribulations here at LexMonitor, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to see how Stevens’ swan song ends relatively soon.
- “Democratic challenger Mark Begich leads by 814 votes in his bid to oust incumbent Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, according to the state’s elections division. Alaska is still counting absentee ballots from the Nov. 4 election. Anchorage Mayor Begich had been trailing Stevens by 3,257 votes until state officials started counting approximately 90,000 absentee ballots yesterday, a process that may stretch in to next week.” – from Begich Leads Stevens by 814 Votes in Alaska U.S. Senate Race, at Michael Moore – This Just In
- “As the final numbers were tallied this evening, Democratic Senate candidate Mark Begich pulled ahead of convicted felon and frontrunner, Republican incumbent Ted Stevens by 814 votes! The word is that the Division of Elections decided not to keep releasing new numbers as they became available throughout the day, to save people’s nerves. It didn’t work. The lack of information between 3:30 and when the final numbers came in at 8:30, was nerve-wracking to say the least.” – from Begich Pulls Ahead of Stevens in Latest Vote Count!, at Mudflats
- “The three Senate races that will determine whether the Democrats gain that coveted 60-seat majority are still deadlocked – by the slimmest of margins in Alaska and Minnesota, and by a tense runoff in Georgia. In Alaska, Democratic challenger Mark Begich overtook the lead on Wednesday as thousands of new ballots were counted, holding a 814 vote advantage over Sen. Ted Stevens at the end of the day” – from Neck And Neck: Senate Races Deadlocked, at HuffingtonPost.com
- “If Begich becomes Senator for Alaska, this forecloses the possibility that Sarah Palin might run for Ted Stevens’s seat when he resigns because of his felony conviction. For Palin this news represents another door closing. Since the recount in Minnesoata appears to be going for Democrat Al Franken, that means it is very likely that the Democrats together with Joe Lieberman are going to have 59 votes in the the Democratic caucus in the Senate in the 111th Congress.” – from ” Alaska: Begich now leads Ted Stevens by “814 votes – recount continues, at Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot
- “The Anchorage Daily News reports this morning that Democratic Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich has pulled ahead of Sen. Ted Stevens in the vote tally expected to take about another week to complete. Begich has been trailing Stevens by 1.5 percent in the count, a bizarre situation since Stevens was convicted on seven counts of federal bribery-related charges one week before Election Day. Today, Begich is ahead by 814 votes, with 40,000 questioned and mail-in ballots still to be counted.” – from Stevens Trails Begich in Vote Tally, at The Washington Independent
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