Anchorage Mayor Expected To Announce Run Against Ted Stevens

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is expected to announce this afternoon that he'll be running against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), setting up a political battle between an iconic figure in Alaska politics against one of the rising Democratic stars statewide.

Begich has called a news conference for 2:30 p.m. EST to “announce his plans regarding the United States Senate seat held by Sen. Ted Stevens,” according to a campaign statement.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been recruiting Begich for the last several months, believing he has the best chance of unseating Stevens. Begich’s father, who was a congressman, died in a 1972 plane crash while campaigning in Alaska.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, anticipating Begich’s campaign, has recently set up a website titled begichbaggage.com, designed to alert voters about Begich’s political record. It is still under construction.

A December Research 2000 poll, commissioned by the liberal website Daily Kos, showed Begich defeating Stevens, 47 percent to 41 percent, in a head-to-head contest.

Stevens, who has served in the Senate since 1968, filed for re-election last Thursday, but is fending off allegations of ethical misconduct that are threatening to derail his decades-long political career.

Last July, the FBI raided one of his homes as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation into ties between Alaska politicians and the oil services giant VECO. The company allegedly provided labor for renovations to the senator’s home in Girdwood, Alaska — a charge that Stevens has refuted.

Stevens faces self-funding businessman David Cuddy in the Republican primary, which will be held August 26.

And Begich still has to win his party’s nomination, where he is set to face former state Rep. Ray Metcalfe.