Win Would Give Stevens A Dubious Distinction: No Convicted Felon Has Been Elected to Senate

[struggle4progress]

By William Branigin and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 6, 2008; Page A39

... If his lead holds up, Stevens will be the first convicted felon to win election to the Senate. Four other senators convicted of felonies resigned or left office at the end of their terms, according to the Senate historian's office.

In its latest count, Alaska's Division of Elections said that with all but three precincts reporting, Stevens led Begich by 3,353 votes, 48.1 percent to 46.5 percent. Three other candidates shared 5.1 percent.

But an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 votes remained to be counted, state officials said, and it could take 10 days to two weeks to determine a winner. The uncounted votes include at least 40,000 absentee ballots, about 9,000 early votes and thousands of challenged ballots.

"This is still anybody's race; this is far from over," said Julie Hasquet, a spokeswoman for the Begich campaign. "We think there's still a very good chance that Mayor Begich will end up being the U.S. senator." She said ballots from an early-voting site at Anchorage City Hall and from the University of Alaska at Anchorage campus had not yet been counted ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/05/AR2008110504268.html?hpid=topnews

[rpannier]

1. I'm not holding my breath, but God I hope Begich wins

Because we all know that seat will wind as Sarah Palin's seat in the near future

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Don't you know the party rules?

You can't be invited unless you're indicted.


Old political joke.

:rofl: