Ted Stevens loses Senate seat: The Swamp

Posted November 19, 2008 7:53 AM

Sen. Ted Stevens talks with the media on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008. Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/Bloomberg News

by Frank James

What a way to mark your 85th birthday. It was on his birthday yesterday that octogenerian Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska learned he has lost his Senate seat to Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage who held a slim 3,724 vote lead.

The Senate will lose its longest serving Republican member who was just convicted by a federal jury for failing to make required financial disclosures. Meanwhile, Democrats pick up another seat which gives their caucus 58 seats, including the two independents who meet with the Democrats. They need just two more for the 60 votes that would allow them to move controversial legislation to a full Senate vote.

As the Anchorage Daily News reports:

Stevens could ask for a recount but his campaign would have to pay for it. The state pays if the margin is within .5 percent of the total votes cast. But Begich leads by just over 1 percent with more than 315,000 votes cast in the race.

Begich said it would be pointless for Stevens to request a recount. Since the state moved to mostly machine counting, recent Alaska recounts have resulted in little change in the final tally.

Begich said Tuesday evening that Stevens, who was in Washington, D.C., had not called him to concede the race or offer congratulations. "It's 9:30 D.C. time, so we might not hear tonight, maybe tomorrow," Begich said.

The Stevens campaign did not respond to requests for comment after the senator's defeat was clear.

Comments

Well now we know what it takes to get someone like Ted Stevens out of office.

Posted by: Karl | November 19, 2008 9:11 AM

The idea that so many people voted for this guy in the first place is frightening in itself! It seems Republican voters will try to do anything to prevent the Democrats to win even if it means voting for an indicted criminal! Great morals these religious republicans have.

Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | November 19, 2008 9:16 AM

Scot-
Your kidding..are you really this naive?

Bill Clinton was impeached-lied to a grand jury ( perjury)and still had a major role in the Democratic campaign to elect Obama.. Could you honestly say that he would get no Dem votes if he chose to run for any other office?

How would you characterize the millions of Democratic votes received over the years for Robert Byrd the former KKK member..?

Barney Frank had a house of prostitution being ran from his towhhouse and continues to be elected to congress.

Ted Kennedy, still in congress, and had a presidential bid, waits hours to call for help when his date is in his car at the bottom of a river..

Or the fact that congressman William Jefferson and his $90,000 frozen dinner gets elected again in New Orleans.?

Voters overlooking character when voting for officials is not limited to republicans...

It was clear to voters in Alaska that a vote for Stevens was a vote to retain a Republican seat- the belief was that he would eventually resign from the senate allowing the seat to be filled by a republican-

Get real with your contrived sense of morality...

Posted by: heartburn | November 19, 2008 10:57 AM

Are the people that voted for the Criminal Stevens also going to sit with him in jail?

Or are they going to go into their bunkers and wait until he is released?. I hope the former Senator lives to be 100 years and more.

Posted by: Action jackson | November 19, 2008 11:04 AM

Hey heartburn, there's one word missing from your list of Dems that applies to Stevens, and Stevens ONLY. That word is CONVICTED. Look it up.

Posted by: Bruce Y | November 19, 2008 4:35 PM

Hopefully it will take the neo-cons a half of a century to be viable again. By that time maybe something can be done for our Country instead of to it. whiteagle3.8

Posted by: R. Juneau | November 19, 2008 10:39 PM

BruceY-

NIce moral compass..

So its ok to vote for an ex Klan member as long as he wasn't convicted of anything..?

And I am sure Mary Jo Kpeckny's family is solaced for the loss of their daughter by the lack of any litigation that would have convicted Ted Kennedy..

So what exactly was Scot's point, (Posted by: Scot S. Blakeley | November 19, 2008 9:16 AM ) ,
when he lamented the lack of morality in Repulican voters?

Posted by: heartburn | November 20, 2008 8:12 AM

BruceY-
NIce moral compass..
So its ok to vote for an ex Klan member as long as he wasn't convicted of anything..?
And I am sure Mary Jo Kpeckny's family is solaced for the loss of their daughter by the lack of any litigation that would have convicted Ted Kennedy..
Posted by: heartburn
-
You miss the point entirely. You can make all the accusations you want, it's still BS unless you can prove wrongdoing. Byrd has renounced his Klan days. Continuing to call him a Klan member is a lie. Nice morals on your part. You can accuse Kennedy of murder if you want, but that doesn't make it true. The incident was thoroughly investigated and no charges were filed. I'm sorry that you have to eat that. Try a spoonful of sugar.

Posted by: Bruce Y | November 20, 2008 1:42 PM

Last time I knew, people were allowed to vote for whichever candidate they felt would be best for them. Don't THINK that a criminal record was an automatic disqualifier -- not exactly an asset, mind you, but not an automatic "three strikes." In fact, the Constitution makes no qualifier about a criminal record for the U.S. Senate (House, likewise) AND, by its wording, it forbids at the same time any state government to put in any FURTHER qualifications. (Senate, however, IS allowed to eject members they feel are unworthy.) So, if Stevens had won, that's simply the voice of the people. Oh, well.....

Posted by: Op109 | November 20, 2008 3:21 PM

Wonder how many more will loose their seats in 2009 taking bribes, especally with all of the bail out money out their.

Posted by: Inky | December 26, 2008 11:30 AM