Mark Begich leads Stevens by a 3,724-vote margin. 58 and counting: Stevens gets the boot

Senate Democrats grew significantly stronger on Tuesday with Ted Stevens getting the boot from voters and Joe Lieberman getting a light rap from his colleagues.

Democrats now have 58 seats and a real shot at the filibuster-proof 60 if things go their way in Minnesota and Georgia. Simply put, Barack Obama will begin his presidency with a very muscular majority in the Senate.


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 has defeated one of the giants in the U.S. 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. The Associated Press called the race Tuesday evening. About 2,500 absentee ballots from overseas remain, but they would not change the outcome of the race.

Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, would become the first Democrat elected to Alaska’s Congressional delegation in nearly three decades.

“I am humbled and honored to serve Alaska in the United States Senate,” Begich said in a Tuesday night statement shortly after he was declared the winner. “It’s been an incredible journey getting to this point, and I appreciate the support and commitment of the thousands of Alaskans who have brought us to this day. I can’t wait to get to work fighting for Alaskan families."

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer released a statement congratulating Begich on the victory.

“Mark Begich will be an outstanding Senator for Alaska and the country, and with seven seats and counting now added to the Democratic ranks in the Senate, we have an even stronger majority that will bring real change to America," Schumer said.

The Begich victory also spares Senate Republicans from having to take an embarrassing vote to expel Stevens from the Senate Republican Conference. That vote had been planned for Tuesday but was postponed because it looked like Stevens would actually lose the election.

Stevens could ask for a recount, but because Begich’s margin of victory is greater than 0.5 percent, his campaign would have to pay for the procedure. Begich is leading Stevens by a 1.2 percent margin of victory.

Stevens’ defeat marks the end of his dominance both in Washington and Alaska. The longest-serving Republican in the United Senate, Stevens is renowned for steering billions of dollars in federal funding to his home state. The airport in Anchorage was renamed Ted Stevens International Airport in 2000, and he was named Alaskan of the century that same year.

Nine days before the election, he was convicted on seven counts of corruption charges by a federal grand jury over failing to report more than $250,000 in improper gifts and home renovations he received from the oil services company VECO. Stevens has said he will be appealing the conviction.

On Election Night, Stevens had reason to be optimistic. He led Begich by about 3,200 votes in the initial post-election tally, but there were about 90,000 outstanding absentee and early vote ballots that took two weeks to finish counting. Nearly one-third of Alaska voters opted to cast their ballots before Election Day – and the clear majority of them were Begich supporters who were encouraged to cast their votes early.

Many of Stevens’ GOP colleagues, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, called on Stevens to resign if re-elected, distancing themselves from the scandal-plagued senator. Republicans, though, postponed a vote on whether to expel Stevens from the GOP Conference as Stevens’s re-election prospects grew dimmer.

After his conviction, Stevens returned home to Alaska for a whirlwind final week of campaigning where he railed against the federal government for abusing its prosecutorial power. The state, which has a long history of distrusting the federal government, appeared to respond to his criticism of prosecutorial abuse.

But it was too little, too late.

“I don't think there's anyone in Alaska who wouldn't want to thank Ted Stevens for what he's done for this state, and wish him well on the appeal of his conviction. Alaska wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for him,” said longtime Alaska pollster Ivan Moore. “However, times are changing and Alaska must too.”