ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 15, 2008
Sen. Stevens Falls Further Behind In Count
As Alaska Continues To Tally Ballots In Tight Race, Dem. Challenger Pads Lead
-
With thousands of absentee and provisional ballots still being counted in their tight Senate race, Republican Ted Stevens (right) has fallen further behind his Democratic challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (left). (AP)
-
State Fast Facts Alaska Learn about the people, economy and geography.
Mark Begich, the two-term mayor of Anchorage, increased his lead from 814 votes to 1,022 as state election workers counted 17,100 ballots. Begich had 47.4 percent of the vote to Stevens' 47.0 percent.
"With the gap widening slightly in our favor today, I feel even more optimistic that when all the ballots are counted next week, we'll see Alaskans came out to vote for new leadership in Washington, D.C.," Begich said in a news release.
The 25,000 remaining votes will be counted Tuesday. They come mostly from Anchorage and the surrounding area, where Begich is leading, and from the state's southeastern panhandle, where he was doing even better.
Stevens, 84, is seeking his seventh term in the Senate, where he has served since 1968. He's renowned for bringing federal funding home to Alaska - as well as for wearing his Incredible Hulk tie when the going gets rough in Congress.
But last month he was convicted by a federal jury in Washington, D.C., of lying on Senate disclosure forms to conceal more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from an oil field services company.
About 5,000 of the votes tallied Friday came from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough north of Anchorage, a conservative area home to Gov. Sarah Palin. Stevens has been leading in that area by a margin of 2-to-1. Also counted were votes from the interior city of Fairbanks and surrounding areas, where Stevens has a slight lead, and the vast Alaska Bush, where Begich is winning easily.
Even David Dittman, a pollster who has worked for Stevens, said his friend's chances were extremely slim. He said many of the votes now being counted were cast before Stevens returned from his trial and began to campaign personally, which helped him in the polls.
"That doesn't change anything for all those votes that were cast earlier," he said.
Absentee ballots went out Oct. 14; Stevens was convicted Oct. 27.
Statewide, about 8,500 of the remaining votes are questioned ballots (known elsewhere as provisional ballots). They are most commonly cast by people who are voting away from their home polling places.
Ivan Moore, an Anchorage pollster who has worked for Democrats, said those voters tend to be younger, single and more likely to vote Democratic.
"I just don't see a significant bloc of votes that's remaining for Ted to get him back into this," Moore said.
Stevens' campaign didn't return calls seeking comment.
For results visit the Alaska Division of Elections Web site.
By Associated Press Writer Gene Johnson
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From Politics
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 7
- next
See all 122 CommentsHey Teddy, those tubes brought you down. How does it feel to have them shoved so far up your colon that if you sneeze you will short circut your pacemaker?
Sung to the tune of Camptown Races!
Old Ted Stevens is gonna lose...do da, do da
Sarah Palin''s crying the blues...all the do da day
Gonna cry all night..
Gonna cry all day...
Old Ted Stevens is headin for jail..zippidy do da day!
IF THE PRESIDENT HAS TO SERVE NO MORE THAN TWO TERMS SO SHOULD THE REST OF OUR ELECTED BUMS.
-----------------------
Posted by kmaxrno
Yeah, my favorite Episodes was when Bill O''Reilly would bring Congressman Mark Foley on the show to talk about congressional efforts to fight sexual child abuse... Priceless!
Stevens ain''t going nowhere.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by nikosk11 at 12:01 PM : Nov 17, 2008
It''s been done before in Florida; keep an eye on Sarah Palin!
Trickle down was the figment of Reagan''s imagination and the words sounded good to him so he ran with it. It was the worst crock of c**p ever sold to America and we never saw a penny of trickle. But as usual the rich got richer. Any Republican who would try that wasted c**p again needs to be thrown out of office because I don''t believe the American people would ever accept anything even remotely like it again. If the GOP can''t come up with genuine changes that help the middle class, they may as well hang it up now! The middle class want a chance to a better life, and I believe Obama will provide that chance. I''m not saying a "handout", just an opportunity to have a better life. Had I known it was so easy to get elected as a governor living in Alaska, I would have moved up there and an taken that job because I know I can speak better English than Palin. At least my sentence structure is concise and makes sense!
This election could have gone terribly wrong had Stevens managed to pull off a win because then the Senate would oust him and Palin would appoint herself to take his seat! I don''t think anyone would have wanted that to occur! I know I didn''t.
Posted by downsteamjim at 07:16 PM : Nov 16, 2008
I have a question for you? Just how far down should we allow this nation to sink before we admitted "Trickle Down" does NOT work? This is the question YOU and the Fascist have CONSISTENTLY refused to answer throughout the entire Campaign. You throw EVERYTHING else out, calling the democrat the "Messiah" but NEVER addressing why you would call him that. We have tried for THREE DECADES to make an Economic System called "Trickle Down" work. The ONLY progress the nation has during those THREE Decades was under a President who took that policy and tossed it in the trash, only to see Bush bring it back out. So I ask AGAIN. Who long were we supposed to wait for a Policy that had NEVER NOT ONCE EVER worked to finally work?
Posted by downsteamjim at 01:46 PM : Nov 16, 2008
________________________
Why would he?
Bush, McCain, Kerry, Gore, et al. None of them were star students and they didn''t release their grades or anything else. Surprisingly, Bush had the best grades of the four of them; that should tell you something about the value of grades.
The grades of all four of the above were researched and made public by newspapers. Eventually Obama''s grades will be made public, too, most likely by a newspaper or an internet researcher.
OBTW: I am not clueless; and I do care. That''s why I again voted for the least undesirable candidate for POTUS.
As a career military person, I did not appreciate the fact that McCain cooperated with the enemy. Military personnel KNOW that they are supposed to lay down their life for their country, not cooperate with the enemy. There are a lot of other "things" about McCain that repulsed me, most of which he has admitted to. You can look them up on Rolling Stone.
Posted by downsteamjim at 07:16 PM : Nov 16, 2008
__________________________
Well, I did not misunderstand your comment about the messiah; I chose to ignore it.
I don not consider Obama the messiah, although he is the "chosen one" as far as the voting majority are concerned. In that sense, messiah doesn''t need to be capitalized. It is truly an historic event but not necessarily a "divine" one.
I clearly said I was not going to answer any questions about Obama. Unlike Bush, and to some extent, McCain, Obama''s life story is all over the internet. However, there is an excellent Rolling Stone article about McCcain and all his short-comings.
You are right: Bush didn''t run this time, but his proxy McSame did. Two years ago I thought I might vote for McCain, but fortunately, his true character started showing through after Obama won the Dem primary. And Palin sealed it for me.
I think right-wing nuts are holding Obama to a higher standard because he is Black. Especially with the muslim and terrorist BS. But then, they also destroyed Kerry with lies.
Twice you alluded to me being racist.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 7
- next
See all 122 Comments