Happy Birthday, Sen. Ted Stevens. You lose.

(UPDATE: Wednesday afternoon Sen. Stevens formally conceded defeat to Mayor Begich.)

Alaska's long-serving Republican senator, Ted Stevens, turned 85 today.

He also lost an election against his Democratic opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

Which means Stevens does not get a seventh term.

And it means one more U.S. Senate seat pickup (a total of seven now) for Democrats under Majority Leader Harry Reid and for the impending legislative agenda of President-elect Barack Obama.

Democrats now hold 58 seats, closer to a solid 60-vote filibuster-proofing they sought, with two Republican seats still undecided in Georgia and Minnesota, plus two independents who usually vote Democratic.

The actual Alaska vote count was not quite complete. But Stevens trails Begich by 3,724 votes with only about 2,500 left to tally, the kind of impossible lead that can be surmounted only in a few machine-run counties of the United States.

Stevens was recently convicted on seven federal felony counts, all stemming from an unreported array of gifts received as a legislator, largely home improvements from an oil services company.

Stevens, a former U.S. attorney himself, intended...

...to fight the convictions, charging prosecutorial malfeasance.

But his GOP colleagues, who already lost seats in 2006 over corruption issues, were lining up to pinch him out of the Republican caucus if he had won.

This saves them the trouble and will realign the state's long-dominant Republican Party power structure involving, you betcha, reform Gov. Sarah Palin, who's been a successful thorn in the side of old-time GOP leaders there in recent years.

Her lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, came within a few hundred votes of upsetting incumbent Rep. Don Young in a primary challenge earlier this year.

Stevens was famous for delivering the goods for Alaska. "We ask for special considerations," he often said of the nation's largest state, "because no one else is that far away, no one else has the problems that we have or the potential that we have, and no one else deals with the federal government day in and day out the way we do."

Stevens was a former state legislator and two-term House member before being appointed to the Senate by Gov. Walter Hickel 40 years ago next month.

A UCLA graduate, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

Eleven years ago, when Stevens succeeded Sen. Mark Hatfield as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he said:

"Sen. Hatfield had the patience of Job and the disposition of a saint. I don't. The watch has changed. I'm a mean, miserable S.O.B."

In 2006 alone, he was credited -- or blamed, depending on your view of pork -- for bringing some 9 billion federal dollars into his state.

Stevens rejected suggestions by party leaders that he resign after his conviction. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Stevens had "broken his trust with the people."

Begich will be the first Senate Democrat from Alaska in more than 30 years. He is the son of Nick Begich, a Democratic congressman killed in a 1972 campaign plane crash.

The mayor's campaign theme was built around this:

Alaskans "tell me we need a senator with new ideas, a senator who's in touch and listens to everyone. They tell me they want a senator who works with all sides of the issues to find solutions and get results."

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Credit: Office of Sen. Ted Stevens; Associated Press

Comments

[Ken in Cleveland]

Nice.

[Criminal]

The real crime here is that Alaska got that close to electeing a criminal. Aren't all republican congressmen criminals anyway? I bet if they dug deep enough into it, they could have something on all of them. And that's just another reason we don't want anyone from Alaska in the White House. Not only are they represent stupidity (as in Sarah Palin), but they have no regard for the law.

[Hugo]

I'm not sure how to take this. He was convicted of 7 felony counts including corruption, and the recount was this close? He's a member of a party that many hold responsible for the worst hypocrisies: they clamor for honoring our soldiers, then run the VA's into the ground and reject calls for an update GI Bill. They call Liberals "tax & spend" liberals, but then created a totally new agency in the Dept of Homeland Security which surprise surprise...is not run very well. Shall I even bother to mention Iraq? The budget deficit? the Bank bailout?

Whatever, I am glad Alaskans saw the light. Pork is fine and dandy, until of course you realize you've basically done it at the expense of the country's priorities.

[SourdoughRed]

Congratulations to Mark Begich!

[sieben13]

Does that mean he goes to jail ?????????? My faith in the alaskian people is renewed

[Barry Yomama]

Happy Birthday you lose? Wow, no mercy for the old republican. Everyone deserves common courtesy, eh? A little slanted in your coverage? What happened to good old objective reporting? That's why no one trusts anything the media says anymore. You've lost your credibility.

[Xenu]

Makes you believe in God, doesn't it? It's nice to see Republican crooks finally getting their comeuppance.

[Mike08]

People need to be reminded exactly what
filibuster- proof means.

It means 60 Democratic votes would keep the Democrat's ideas from being blocked by Republican- Obstructionists who wont' even let an up-or-down vote take place,

The Republicans kept Democrats from bringing much legislation to a vote during much of the last Congress by filibustering.

You never really heard about it, tho, because the Democrats are led by Senator Reid who doesn't hold a candle to Republican media finesse.

[Alan Jacobs]

Whew !! We are finally SAVED from Air Head Palin !!! You see the plan was for Stevens to win the election then either quit or get thrown out of the Senate. That would pave the way for Palin to appoint herself US Senator for 6 years and satisfy her huge ego with another losing run for the White House. Personallly, I feel there could be enough real dirt in Palin's official dealings that she too should be seriously investigated for corruption.

(Nice try. But Alaska has a law: The Governor doesn't fill Senate vacancies by appointment. She/he calls a special election right away.)

[Mr. MFIC]

This crotchety old crook is charging prosecutorial malfeasance?!!
Ted, just go home and hang yourself in the garage like any self respecting scumbag would.