One of the really unfortunate effects thus far from the Palin VP candidacy has been what is happening in the Alaska senate race pitting democrat, Mark Begich, against Alaska's senator Ted Stevens.
Stevens, 84, an Alaska Republican, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington. He had been under federal investigation for more than a year on public corruption charges.
Stevens is charged with seven counts of making false statements for failing to disclose gifts and home renovations from VECO Corp., an influential Alaska oil services company, on his annual Senate financial disclosure form. The total value of the unreported benefits exceeded $250,000, according to the indictment.
Begich had been running away with this race prior to the entry of Palin. Just about all the polls had shown Begich enjoying a double digit lead, with at least one poll showing him ahead by 21 points http://www.swingstateproject.com/...
However, now the entry of Palin to the GOP ticket appears to have given Stevens a huge boost, as the most recent Anchorage Press poll has given Begich a slight 3 point edge, which, of course, represents a tie within the error margin. http://www.anchoragepress.com/...
What we need to do is not forget Mark Begich. This is a winnable seat, but Begich is now going to need our help more than ever. Remember we not only want to retake the White house this November, but we want to increase our senate lead as much as possible, and we can put this one in our column.
We need to make it clear that the selection of Palin should not cause the reentry of an indicted potential felon to the senate.
We have to press Palin relentlessly on how much she supports Stevens, because strong support for the indicted senator will tell everyone a lot about what she would be like as a VP.
If you have time, please check out Mark Begich at http://www.begich.com/... Show him some love, and please do whatever you can to see to it that we can rid the senate of a corrupt senator. Stevens is not what Alaska needs, and is an embarrassment as a US senator. We need to make sure that this seat is in our column and together we can do it.