The Lofty Lantern

Republican Senator Ted Stevens, the 3rd Senator in Alaska’s history, has been indicted by the Justice Department on 7 counts. Stevens was facing his first serious Democratic challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, in a tight race. Ironically, this could be good news for the Republicans who were already facing an unusually tough race because of the scandals besetting the Senator. If Stevens can be convinced to exit the race quickly and another Republican can be found who might win in this heavily Republican state, it could save Republican hopes here.  If Stevens fights the charges and insists on running again, however, or if the Republicans fail to replace him with a strong candidate in the last 90 odd days before the election, then the Democrats will certainly pick up a seat here for only the second time since the state’s founding.

Posted under Politics | No Comments »

Rasmussen often produces strange results, so it was with wariness that I read their recent poll giving Democratic Senate candidate Mark Begich a 50-41 lead over incumbent Republican Senator Ted Stevens. I mean, it’s been 16 years since somebody has kept Stevens from getting 2/3rds of the vote. And that time, he got 66.2%. The previous time he got that few votes was in 1962, when he was first elected to the Senate.

But, in imitation of comprehensiveness, I checked Pollster.com. It turns out that in no poll conducted this year (or last) has Stevens been above 50%. Rasmussen, in fact, is the one pollster to be relatively optimistic, giving him a marginal, if unimpressive, 46-44 lead in June, which makes their current numbers all the more appetizing. Congressional Quarterly is still sticking with their rating of this seat as leaning to the Republicans, but they will probably be forced to change it fairly soon.

Posted under Politics | No Comments »