Begich DEFEATS Stevens in Alaska!

UPDATE 9:45 PM - It's OVER - Begich WINS!

Anchorage Mayor and Democratic candidate for Senator for Alaska has increased his lead over convicted felon, Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, by over 1,000 votes today alone. Before today's recounts, Begich held a lead of just over 1,000 votes.

The majority of the remaining uncounted votes are coming mainly from Anchorage and the surrounding area, where Begich is leading, and from the state's southeastern panhandle, where he was doing even better. Overseas ballots had to be sent in to election officials by Wednesday.

Breaking: Begich leads Stevens by 3 votes in Alaska

Via The Anchorage Daily News:

The elections division still has over 10,000 ballots left to count today and thousands more through next week, but the latest numbers show Mark Begich leading Sen. Ted Stevens 125,019 to 125,016. The new numbers, reflecting nearly 43,000 absentee ballots counted today, are from all over the state. Election night, Ted Stevens led the Democratic Begich by about 3,000 votes.

The state today is counting a total of about 60,000 absentee and questioned ballots. The Division of Elections said it expects to count roughly 35,000 additional absentee and questioned ballots over the next week.

The counting of ballots in the state of Alaska is making Lake County, Indiana look like Speedy Gonzales!

"Bridge to Flip Flops" by Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's stump speeches have largely stuck to the same script (what the AP describes as "a greatest hits of her convention speech). However, one line that constantly shows up is that Palin said "thanks, but no thanks, to that 'bridge to nowhere.'" Palin's claim of opposing the 'bridge to nowhere' has been proven false, yet she refuses to drop the line. Watch Palin use this exact line in seven different stump speeches since the end of the Republican Convention:

Ted Stevens indicted on seven counts

Good News for Mark Begich:

The "bridge to nowhere man" was indicted today on seven felony counts of concealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts from a powerful oil contractor that lobbied him for government aid. Stevens, 84, is the first sitting U.S. senator to face federal indictment since 1993.

The contractor in the case, VECO, normally builds oil processing equipment and pipelines, but its employees helped do the work on Stevens' home which included a new first floor, garage, wraparound deck, plumbing and electrical wiring. He's also accused of accepting from VECO a Viking gas grill, furniture and tools, and of failing to report swapping an old Ford for a new Land Rover to be driven by one of his children.

Stevens was already facing a tough re-election battle against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, who has been leading him in recent polls. Move another Senate seat into the Democratic column for 2008. Welcome aboard, Alaska!

Don't it make my red state blue. . .

Speaking of polling, Rassmussen's new poll out today shows Alaska slipping out of GOP control for the first time ever. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican Senator in history, is losing 50-41 to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, who was just 6 years old when Stevens was first elected in 1968:



While Stevens won with 78% of the vote back in 20002, several incidents since that time have caused even 20% of the GOP faithful to rally against him. Stevens is reportedly the only senator to have had his home raided by Feds, and then there was that "bridge to nowhere" deal. . .

Normally, an Alaska Republican in trouble could count on some help from the top of the ticket. In its entire history, Alaska has voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate just once, and that was forty-four years ago. This year, however, John McCain holds just a single-digit lead over Barack Obama in Alaska.

Another one bites the dust. . .