Everyone has been watching the returns in Alaska, where Senator Ted Stevens, 84, seems to have pulled out a re-election victory despite his recent felony convictions in a federal case that exposed his acceptance of gifts from developers for renovations of his home in Girdwood.

Mr. Stevens has been adamant that his conviction is an aberration, that he will surmount this obstacle and that he will survive. In essence, the senator refuses to give up his longtime seat, despite calls for his resignation from fellow Republicans, like the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona; and even Sarah Palin, who was Mr. McCain’s running mate and is the governor of Alaska.

On CNN today, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, declared that Mr. Stevens would not be in the Senate come the next session. Asked about a declaration by a fellow Democrat, Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, that Mr. Stevens could return, Mr. Reid said:

All the Republicans — John Ensign, head of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, Republican Leader McConnell and a long list of people — said that he’s going to be kicked out of the Senate. Of course he is. He is not going to survive. CNN’s John King: You’re the Democratic leader of a new Democratic government. Do you want a committee chairman who stood up for a man moments after he was convicted of federal corruption charges? Mr. Reid: The other way of looking at that, do you want a guy on that committee who is loyal to his friends? Dan Inouye, who we all know is a very close personal – they are like brothers. Now I think that what happened with Senator Stevens is wrong and that’s an understatement. He’s been convicted of seven felonies. He’s not going to be in the Senate.

If Senator Stevens continues to battle for his future, that means the Senate will move toward an extraordinary measure — expulsion — of one of its members. How does that goes forward? Will a leading Republican lead the charge?

One more Senate contretemps: What happens to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut who campaigned tirelessly for Mr. McCain, a friend, and broke with the Democratic caucus to appear at the Republican National Convention and have a larger-than-life speaking role endorsing Mr. McCain? Senators Lieberman and Reid met last week over Mr. Lieberman’s chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. And Mr. Lieberman had already stopped going to the Democratic caucus luncheons during the fall.

On CNN today, Mr. Reid said:

I know Joe Lieberman very well. He is a senior member of the Senate. He is on Armed Services; if something happens to the chairman he becomes chairman. If something happens to the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, he becomes chairman. So he is a senior member – person around here. And I want to remind all of the people that are watching this newscast or however this program is going to air that I would not be majority leader but for his vote. We could not have passed our budget – we passed a budget the Republicans couldn’t pass. They had 55 senators. We had 51. They couldn’t pass a budget, we did. Why? Joe Lieberman voted with us. So I recognize what he did was wrong and quite frankly, I don’t like what he did. I told him so all during the campaign … So we’ve had a number of conversations, we’re going to have more. But for those people beating up on Joe Lieberman, I’ve done my share. Recognize the glass being half full, not half empty. … I think a lot of this is very private stuff, but Joe Lieberman has done something that I think was improper, wrong, and I’d like — if we weren’t on television, I’d use a stronger word of describing what he did.

Still, it sounds as though Mr. Reid believes that he needs the Lieberman vote on many issues besides Iraq.