Maybe it is just me reading the tea leaves, but if I am interpreting this report from The Hill, Ted Stevns is throwing the Republican Party under the bus by requesting that his trial takes place before the election.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) pleaded not guilty Thursday to seven felony charges and is requesting to "clear his name" before the November elections.
Looking calm in a light gray suit, Stevens appeared in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with his attorney, who asked to have the trial expedited before November and moved to Alaska.
"I appear here not to ask for any special favors ... But I do want to ask the court that he would like to clear his name before the general election," said Brendan Sullivan, Stevens’s attorney.
Even if Stevens loses the primary, the early trial, if granted, will keep the ooze of GOP corruption fresh on Alaskans' minds and could revenge that he is seeking against the Bush Justice Department, his Republican senate colleagues and his opponenets in the Alaska GOP. Maybe it really is a dish best served cold.
Update [2008-7-31 15:37:49 by RandySF]:
This could not have gones better if I had even planned it. The Hill is now reporting that the trial has been set to begin just over a month before the election.
The criminal trial for Sen. Ted Stevens will begin just weeks before the November election, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan announced Thursday.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 24 for the trial of the Alaska Republican, who was indicted Tuesday on seven felony counts for allegedly concealing $250,000 in gifts from an oil services company. The judge said the case could start sooner, or a couple days later, depending on whether other trials affect his schedule. But the judge said the date was "reasonably firm."
Whether Stevens is on the November ballot or not, this is the Republicans' worst case scanrio There may even be enough time for a verdict before Election Day.