CREW named Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) one of the most corrupt members of Congress in September. 

Today, the long career of Senator Stevens ended today as he said good-bye to that body.  Stevens lost his Senate race earlier in the week.  Last month, he was convicted of federal corruption charges:

"I really must pinch myself to fully understand that I'm privileged to speak on the floor of the United States Senate," Stevens said, sitting comfortably and with an ease he didn't have during the five weeks he faced a federal jury on corruption charges this fall.

Stevens, who was convicted on seven counts of failing to disclose gifts from a powerful political contributor, lost his election Tuesday and will return to Alaska. He made just one mention of his conviction during his farewell remarks, saying he hoped to one day be cleared of the cloud over his head.

Yet Stevens never sounded a bitter note. He thanked his family, his friends both inside and outside of the Senate, and the people of Alaska.

If home is where the heart is, Stevens said, "I have two homes. One is right here in this chamber and the other is my beloved state of Alaska. I must leave one to return to the other."

Last night, we learned that Alaska's long-serving Senator, Ted Stevens, who is also a convicted felon, was defeated in his re-election bid:

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens lost his job to Mark Begich on Tuesday, putting an end to the era of "Uncle Ted" as the dominant force in Alaska politics.

Begich, the Democratic mayor of Anchorage, widened his lead to 3,724 votes in Tuesday's count of absentee and questioned ballots. The lead is insurmountable, as the only votes left to count are approximately 2,500 ballots from overseas.

Begich claimed victory, saying, "I am humbled and honored to serve Alaska in the U.S. Senate."

The loss came on Stevens' 85th birthday. The 40-year incumbent is the longest serving Republican in the history of the U.S. Senate.

An update on the status of Senator Ted Stevens future within the GOP caucus from Roll Call (sub. req.)

“After talking with many of my colleagues, it’s clear there are sufficient votes to pass the resolution regarding Senator Stevens. The question now is timing,” DeMint said. “Some who support the resolution believe we should address this after the results of his election are confirmed in Alaska. For this reason, I will ask the Conference to postpone the vote on Senator Stevens until Thursday.”

Senator Ted Stevens is now behind by over 1,000 votes in his quest for re-election.  The remaining votes will be counted by Wednesday and it appears that Stevens will lose.  That has not stopped South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint from pushing to have Stevens expelled from the Republican caucus:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has been very public about his proposal to ask Senate Republicans, at a 9:30 meeting Tuesday morning, to formally vote on expelling Stevens from the Republican Conference, which would strip Stevens of all his committee seats, take away his seniority and essentially leave him without a party. Stevens would still be a senator, of course, but this conference expulsion would send a strong signal that expulsion from the Senate itself is a likely next step.

But the Alaska recount has thrown DeMint's plans into jeopardy, because Republicans might not want to be on record expelling someone who just might lose the election anyway.

"Sen. DeMint can raise it, but members might not be in any mood, especially since the election won’t be settled by then [Tuesday]," said one Senate Republican leadership aide. "I just don’t know what will happen." 

A DeMint aide insists that nothing has changed.

"The vote is schedule to go forward tomorrow," the aide said.

United States Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) was leading after the votes were counted on election day.  Not now.  After approximately 50,000 absentee and early voting ballots were counted, Stevens fell behind by over 800 votes.  There are still 40,000 ballots left uncounted.

The best passage in the article:

Stevens is trying to become the first person ever elected to the U.S. Senate after a being found guilty of felony crimes. A Washington, D.C., jury found him guilty a week before the election of lying about gifts on his financial disclosure forms.

Quite the honor to which Stevens is aspiring.

There are tens of thousands of ballots left to be counted in Alaska.  Currently, incumbent Ted Stevens holds a lead over his challenger, Mark Begich.  If Stevens leads holds, he faces some rough water upon his return:

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) believes his colleagues will expel Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens from the Senate following his felony conviction — and subsequent re-election.

"He’s been convicted of seven felonies," Reid said on CNN's "Late Edition." "He’s not going to be in the Senate."

The majority leader was a bit more gentle about Stevens's close friend, Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye (D), who campaigned for the Republican in Alaska during the time-consuming trial and will soon assume the chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee after West Virginia Sen. Robert C. Byrd announced Friday he would be stepping aside.

The St. Petersburg Times has a simple message for Ted Stevens' colleagues in the U.S. Senate: Expel him.  The paper's editorial board sees no reason to wait:

Sen. Ted Stevens is nothing if not tenacious. Even after the 84-year-old Republican senior senator from Alaska was found guilty of seven felonies last month, he pressed his bid for re-election. This would have been a perfect opportunity for Alaskans to show Stevens the door. But benefiting from peculiar voter loyalty and his own tenacity, Stevens holds a small vote advantage in his race against Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, and may well be re-elected.

Getting the final result could take weeks, but Stevens should not set foot in the Senate chamber again. As a public servant, Stevens violated the trust of his office, and the Senate should vote to expel him later this month. There is no need to wait for court appeals.

Stevens' claims that he has "not been convicted of anything yet'' is self-delusional and deceptive.

Expel him.

Very strong editorial in the New York Times today on the possible re-election of Ted Stevens.  If Stevens does eke out a win, the Senate must kick him out:

Call it misplaced loyalty or misplaced partisanship, but Senator Ted Stevens, a Republican of Alaska, is holding a razor-thin edge with voters despite his conviction last month on seven felony counts of violating federal ethics laws.

After being pronounced guilty by a jury, Mr. Stevens went around telling Alaskans that he had “not been convicted of anything yet” — a fatuous distortion rooted in the technicality that he has not yet been sentenced.

That didn’t wash with his party’s presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, who called on Mr. Stevens to resign forthwith. And it shouldn’t wash with the rest of the Senate.

The final tally could take two weeks. As of Wednesday, Mr. Stevens was leading by about 3,400 votes over his Democratic opponent, Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, with 50,000 absentee ballots still to be counted. Mr. Stevens is determined to maintain his 1 percent edge and claim vindication, not disgrace.

If that happens, the Senate could soon face the embarassment of watching Mr. Stevens return as the first member ever re-elected after being found guilty of criminal charges. Before that, the august body should show bipartisan gumption and expel him.

Alaskans may be on the verge of re-electing a convicted felon to the U.S. Senate.  Results are not final, but Stevens is ahead:

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens maintained his lead over challenger Mark Begich this morning with 99 percent of the precincts counted, just a week after being found guilty of seven felonies and pre-election polls showing him in deep trouble.

With all but three of Alaska's 438 precincts reporting, the Republican Stevens held a 1.5 percent vote advantage over Democrat Begich -- 48 percent to 46.5 percent. About 4,000 votes separate the candidates.

The thin margin means the Senate race might not be decided for two weeks.Still to be counted are roughly 40,000 absentee ballots, with more expected to arrive in the mail, as well as 9,000 uncounted early votes and thousands of questioned ballots. The state Elections Division has up to 15 days after the election to tally all the remaining ballots before finalizing the count.

If the lead holds, Stevens will shock the nation and be the first person ever re-elected to the U.S. Senate after being found guilty on criminal charges. Polls had shown the Republican down by at least 8 percentage points on the day before the election.

One more post about the Stevens trial.  Remember the juror who had to leave town because her father died?  Not quite.  The juror went to the races.  Seriously:

A juror who was dismissed from the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) after she told the judge that her father had died in California admitted in court yesterday that her excuse was a lie: She actually left town to attend a horse race.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan declined to sanction the juror, Marian Hinnant, 52, of Northeast Washington, and allowed her to return to work after a short hearing.

A.J. Kramer, a federal public defender, represented Hinnant at the hearing and told the judge that she had been in such "a state of mind" that she could not continue deliberations.

Hinnant, holding a large packet of handwritten notes, gave a rambling statement that involved wiretaps, horses and drugs in Kentucky before Sullivan stopped her. The judge had ordered her to appear at yesterday's hearing because he has been unable to reach her since she was dismissed from the panel.