Ted Stevens Wins Primary in Alaska

[Judi Lynn]

Source: New York Times

August 28, 2008
Ted Stevens Wins Primary in Alaska
By WILLIAM YARDLEY

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska won the Republican primary in his home state on Tuesday, soundly defeating six Republican challengers less than a month after he was indicted by a federal grand jury for concealing more than $250,000 in gifts from an oil services company.

The victory for Mr. Stevens, 84, means he now moves to a tough general election campaign against Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, who easily won the Democratic primary on Tuesday and leads the senator in polls. Mr. Stevens enters the general election also having to prepare for his trial, which is scheduled to begin in late September.

Mr. Stevens, who has been in office for 40 years and is revered for bringing home billions of dollars in federal spending, had received 63 percent of the vote with 61 percent of precincts counted.

"People have been voting for Ted for 40 years and their inclination is to keep doing it," Dave Cuddy, a former state lawmaker who finished a distant second to Mr. Stevens, said in a phone interview several hours before the polls closed.

Representative Don Young, the state's lone House member and a 35-year incumbent, was locked in a close primary race with Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell late Tuesday. Mr. Parnell led by less than 400 votes out of more than 70,000 cast in the 61 percent of precincts that had reported results.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/us/28alaska.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

[northofdenali]

1. Not at all surprising - most of the voters owe him money.

I pray he'll be defeated by Mark Begich. Mark's dad, Nick Begich, was one of the GREATS of Alaskan history, and Mark is cut from the same mold.

Stevens can't serve when imprisoned. And, given the record of the latest Repukes to go to jail (about 6 of them so far), he will be imprisoned.

Unca Ted has been corrupt from get-go. It's finally catching up, and he'll be the oldest Federal prisoner in the system.

[Ex Lurker]

8. Scratch one seat for the GOP n/t

asdf

[Lasher]

2. Yay! You go, Ted!

We just picked up a US Senate seat.

[Mojambo]

3. Real discerning Republicans up in Alaska, eh? n/t

[northofdenali]

4. RU Kidding?

Brought to you, and paid for, by: ExxonMobil, Chevron, et al;

Funded by Rich Repukes R Us, Veco, Alyeska Pipeline Company, and

Sponsored by Ted Stevens, Frank and Lisa Murkowski, Don Young.

[Ex Lurker]

10. Might this be Operation Chaos in reverse? n/t

asdf

[Pab Sungenis]

19. Isn't Alaska a closed primary?

It can't be OC/reversed. It's just too many Republicans who are too stubborn to vote in their best interest.

[northofdenali]

25. There were 2 ballots. One was strictly Republican -

if you're registered R, or independent, or "nonpartisan", you can vote on the R ballot.

If you're looking to vote otherwise, it's called the A-D-L ballot - get this - Alaskan Independence Party, Democratic Party or Libertarian Party - same ballot. Anyone can vote this ballot, including R's.

The repukes set it up this way about 12 years ago. One poor older lady in front of me today at my polling place tried really hard to make the asshole who looks at your Voter's Registration card or Drivers License understand she wanted the ballot with Mark Begich on it.

Mark is a Democrat.

The idiot handing out the ballots kept asking her Republican or ADL? I finally told the sweet old lady to take the ADL ballot, that Mark's name would be on it.

Most of our poll workers are solid repukes.

[fujiyama]

5. Excellent

It will be great to see him go down. Hope he can drag McCain down the "tubes" with him (pun intended).

[JohnnyRingo]

6. I'd like to wonder why the voters are "inclined to keep voting for him"

But I'm from the land of Jim Traficant.
If he was released from prison tomorrow and was allowed to run, he'd win in a landslide.

I'm sure of it.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. To be fair, the voters know which side of their bread is buttered.

Stevens gets Alaska A LOT of federal money through his connections. Alaskans are pragmatic. Less or no federal aid means losing programs and/or raising state taxes.

[Ian David]

24. Yeah, but why would Repukes vote for the indicted guy in their primary who is sure to lose?

Do they think he'll win and then get pardoned?

[santamargarita]

7. Those Right-Wing Assholes Love their Criminals

I hope they wait till Bush is gone to put this prick away!

[mwb970]

9. Is something wrong with the people in Alaska?

Do we know why they keep electing Republicans to represent them and then re-elect them even when they are shown to be crooks? Is it because Alaskans are "rugged individualists" who favor an every-man-for-himself approach, community be damned? Maybe someone who lives there can clue us in.

The countryside up there is really beautiful, but I'm a bit skeptical about the citizens. Is there something wrong with them, or are Republican criminals really best qualified to lead there?

[Ex Lurker]

11. ANWR is a big deal up there

the vast majority are for it. For a Democrat to be even close means the Alaska GOP has really stepped in it.

[northofdenali]

12. Keep repeating this - OIL MONEY. OIL MONEY. OIL MONEY.

Up till the Pipeline, Alaska was still a "rugged, individualist" state. I know, I WERE one..... but once Big Oil got hold of the system, and brought in the fundies and religious fanatics (not the regular ones that were already with us) we became a one-party system. That one party wasn't Democratic or Republican - the One Party was Oil Money.

It still is.

The Republicans here are owned, paid for and run by the oil conglomerates.

The last one (who wasn't really a Repuke) who did us any good was Jay Hammond, and he was about as Libertarian as one gets without being an anarchist.

If you have a (D) by your name in this state, you'd better own the black and Native vote - or you won't get any votes. The fundie churches are run by folks no better than Jim Jones (I'll give you Bible Baptist Church in Fairbanks as an example), and the more "liberal" churches are almost sidelined.

Sad.

Maybe, I keep praying, Unca Ted and Donny Boy will go down in flames. Or at least to one of the plusher Fed penitentiaries.

[bulloney]

15. Rugged individualists?

It seems to me that if you're a 'rugged individualist,' you don't elect the king of pork to bring government money back home.

[lamp_shade]

14. He has more "experience" than the others. GOP places little importance on good judgment.

[liberal N proud]

16. This is a prime example of how corrupt our system is

This asshole should be behind bars yet he is allowed to continue to work as an elected official and run for another term.

[grace0418]

29. I know, right? If I were arrested and tried, I would lose my job. The very

best I could hope for would be suspended without pay until the case was decided, but most likely I would lose my job immediately. It's fucking ridiculous.

[Mudoria]

32. Until he's convicted he's free to do whatever he pleases

even run for Congress.

[catgirl]

17. Good news for us

Let's hope Don Young wins his race too!

[minnesota_liberal]

18. This says alot

RepubliCons are willing to re-elect a corrupt politician who's lied about receiving illegal gifts and been indicted for it.

[Hubert Flottz]

20. Diebold strikes again!

[L. Coyote]

26. Funny, but, as a mantra, that's not very useful.

Has Alaska done anything to get rid of Diebold?

[Hubert Flottz]

27. Has Alaska done anything to get rid of Diebold?

Has Anybody?

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Proving that Republicans love crooks!

[Ian David]

22. I'd send him an internet to congratulate him, but I don't want to clog the series of tubes. n/t

[Ian David]

23. Is there any chance Alaska has an open primary and Operation: Series of Tubes is working? n/t

[Joanne98]

28. Good.

[bluesmail]

30. Wake Up America!

[BootinUp]

31. Alaska: He's our Crook! We love him. nt

[Infinite Hope]

33. Woohoo!!! One more Senate seat for the Dems!!! n/t

[Project Grudge]

34. more time more corruption

This'll bite 'em in the ass in Alaska. I think his scandals so far are just the tip of the iceberg.