Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Happy 85th Birthday, Senator Stevens

Actually, Happy Birthday, and Happy Trails...

From WashingtonPost.com -
Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) defeated Sen. Ted Stevens, ending the tenure of the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, after the counting of more ballots yesterday gave him a larger lead than the number of votes still untallied, Alaska elections officials said.

{snip}

Begich leads Stevens by more than 3,700 votes, according to the Alaska secretary of state. Gail Fenumiai, the head of the state's election division, said about 2,500 absentee votes from overseas and Alaska's most remote regions remain to be counted.

The Democrat's lead thus far -- 47.8 percent to 46.6 percent -- puts him beyond the margin of victory that would allow Stevens to call for a state-funded recount of the ballots.
Now the two remaining questions are -

Will the Senate expel Stevens for the remaining 6 weeks of his term?

Will George Bush pardon Stevens for his crimes?

Best guesses - No (between Stevens' conviction and election loss, expulsion might be viewed as piling on after the whistle has blown) and probably (it's not like it will hurt Bush politically. Hell, Bush's numbers are so bad, pardoning Al Capone wouldn't lower them.)

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