Ted Stevens Loses Senate Re-Election Bid 337
JakartaDean writes "Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, famed Internet regulator, has lost his Senate seat. The AP is reporting that 'Stevens was declared the loser in Alaska on Tuesday night after a two-week-long process of counting nearly 90,000 absentee and early votes from across Alaska. With this victory, Democrat Mark Begich (the mayor of Anchorage) has defeated one of the giants in the US Senate by a 3,724-vote margin, a stunning end to a 40-year Senate career marred by Stevens' conviction on corruption charges a week before the election.' It's probably too early to tell what this means for Internet regulation, but at least there's a > 0 chance that the next committee chair will understand something about the Net."
Re:I'm amazed (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, the local vote doesn't rest so much on the personal qualities of a candidate so much on his ability to bring pork to his district. Having been convicted on things like having a piece of furniture in his home won't impress votes who depend on the pork for their jobs that much. And from what little I drained from the tubes on the topic, Mr. Stevens was an expert at getting quality output from them pork tubes.
Besides, he doesn't stand alone, and it dozen't only happen in the US. In Japan a few years back an MP got convicted, did jail time, got out and got promptly re-elected, despite the national media turning him into a sort of laughingstock. Similarities: he was from the northern, relatively unpopulated and cold part of Japan, and he was a "pork expert".
So, it is either the pork, or the ice. You decide.
Re:I'm amazed (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, but it could also mean that the alternative choice is even worse than the berated incumbent.
Maryland (my state) is just about all Democratic. The Republicans often run some turkey just to have a race. The results are usually embarrassing to the Republicans, but at least they tried.
As a registered Republican I've been frustrated year after year having to vote for the Democrat (usually the incumbent) because the Republican was clearly unqualified.
Re:Funny how recounts work (Score:4, Interesting)
a) Fraudulent ballots are being added for the Democratic candidate in the midst of the recount.
b) For whatever reason, more valid democratic ballots went uncounted during the first counting.
Since recounts are heavily observed by both sides, I find option a to be unlikely. To be perfectly accurate however, the Alaska race was never recounted - they just finished counting all the ballots (absentee and so on take longer) for the first time. Despite this, given the closeness of race, I find it hard to believe that election monitors for either side would have been so incompetent as to allow the level of fraud that you suggest.
Re:I'm amazed (Score:5, Interesting)
They're at least somewhat orthogonal I thought? I'm not American so sometimes I can have really skewed views of how things work down there, but I don't see either as junior to the other. They have a very different set of responsibilities and privileges.
Regarding why she'd want to run... from up here I'd heard some rumblings about how Palin might have some executive experience, but a stunning lack of information about the rest of the country. Said persons then went on to suggest that some senate experience would be good for her if she wants to be involved in the 2012 race, get her some additional exposure out-of-state and some experience in Washington(being a maverick outsider renegade is all well and good, but some knowledge of how things work in Washington isn't entirely bad).
I'm not sure how many millions of Americans this would carry weight with, but these two seemed to think it'd be a splendid idea.
Re:I'm amazed (Score:4, Interesting)
First off, that's probably against the law, or Governor Murkowski would have done it to himself a few years ago rather than appoint his daughter Lisa to the seat.
Why would he appoint himself to fill the seat he just vacated to become Governor?
His appointing of his daughter was why we changed the laws here.
Regarding Stevens, it's good to finally be rid of the embarrassment... too bad we're replacing him with someone who is equally corrupt - only instead of belonging to big oil, Begich belongs to organized crime.
But then, corruption is a requirement to be in politics in the United States, so I guess Begich arrives well qualified.
Re:he did it on my dime (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, I hear that a lot. And when I do, I always respond: "Hey -- make you a deal. For you, no more pork for Alaska. For us, we get back the unprecedented 60% of Alaska owned by the federal government, to develop as we see fit."
Any Alaskan would take that deal in a New York Second. We have far more natural resources than, say, Norway, which seems to get along just fine.
- Alaska Jack
Re:I'm amazed (Score:3, Interesting)
Regarding Stevens, it's good to finally be rid of the embarrassment... too bad we're replacing him with someone who is equally corrupt - only instead of belonging to big oil, Begich belongs to organized crime.
Care to back that up with facts?
Re:I'm amazed (Score:5, Interesting)
If he was forced out of office in disgrace he would be replaced by another less obviously disgraceful Republican. At least I hope that's what happened, although after seeing who they elected Governor I could be giving Alaskan's too much credit.
Funny you should mention that. Even though his replacement would be chosen by special election and appointed, the consensus in the punditocracy was that Palin would run for the seat and probably win.
Re:Who's The Fool (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Too Bad (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I'm amazed (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm right there with you, politically. But a slight fact-check might be in order. Last I looked, the US defense budget is about 45% of the entire world. So we spend almost as much as the rest of the world combined, and about as much as the next 14 or so countries, combined. And that list of 14 countries includes all of the biggies: Russia, China, Germany, England, etc. Maybe with Iraq and Afghanistan supplementals included, we have crossed the 50% mark, but I haven't seen any numbers to say so.
Barry Goldwater (perhaps the father of American Conservatism) gave a speech toward the end of his life. One of the things that he said is, "We have to turn The Pentagon into a triangle." Where have those kind of Conservatives gone? I like Ike: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Re:Who's The Fool (Score:2, Interesting)
I think the first thing Obama should do in office is pardon Libby. And the first thing Congress should do in office is haul Libby in front of them to testify.
Meanwhile, Obama should be standing there with plea bargains for everyone else.