The good news out the last frontier is that Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich has widen his lead over incumbent and convicted felon Ted Stevens (somehow I don’t think I’ll ever tire of noting this) in the latest tally. Begich has 146,286 votes to Stevens’ 143,912 for a lead of 2,374. Whatever the results in Alaska, the Senate Republican Caucus should act and expel Senator Stevens immediately. Stevens is just the fifth sitting Senator to be convicted of a felony.
However, it appears that Stevens was spared a potentially critical vote by the Senate Republican Conference to expel him. Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, had intended to ask members of the conference to vote on such a resolution on Tuesday, released a statement today backing down.
“After talking with many of my colleagues, it’s clear there are sufficient votes to pass the resolution regarding Senator Stevens. The question now is timing. Some who support the resolution believe we should address this after the results of his election are confirmed in Alaska. For this reason, I will ask the conference to postpone the vote on Senator Stevens until Thursday.”
Somehow I am guessing that Senator DeMint was likely pressured by GOP leadership to back off and see if the voters of Alaska might excuse the Senators from an uncomfortable moment.