Frankly, the fact that Ted Stevens is even close to winning doesn't speak highly of Alaskans, IMO. He hasn't officially won yet. It's too close to call and they still have some absentee ballots to count. I think the reason Alaskans voted for him is because they didn't want to give the seat to a Democrat. By voting for him, when he is forced out of the Senate, which he most definitely will be, the Governor will then be able to appoint someone to take his place. By allowing Sarah Palin to appoint someone, a Republican will keep the seat, as opposed to just electing Stevens' Democrat opponent.
He was only convicted a couple of weeks before the election, so his name was already on the ballot and it was too late to run someone else. Normally, I highly doubt a convicted felon could run for public office.
I think I read that he was still able to run, that there isn't a law that states a felon can't be a senator, but I also heard something about the Senate possibly kicking him out if he does win.
How interesting that there is no law concerning this. I like to think that someone who is a felon probably wouldn't get the nomination, but I don't know if that's always true...
For the record.. I only get loopy in Dec. when we only have 2 hours of sunlight a day. Of course, whether that is a product of the lack of light, or the amount of rum in my egg nog is up for debate, LOL. So, let me see if I can explain the Ted Stevens thing (for the record, I didn't vote for McCain, but I did vote for Stevens.. I'll note my reasons below).
First, Alaskans are very angry about the way Ted's trial was handled. We all watched it very closely and many felt it wasn't particularly fair. I agree with those who think it had large problems, and while I don't necessarily think they got the verdict wrong, I hope that his appeal is handled better.
Second, the primary was very hotly contested and many republicans tried to vote in another choice for senator to prevent this very situation from happening. In Alaska, you don't have to be registered in a party to vote in their primary, you can request any party's ballot you want. So, many people think that we had quite a few democrats voting in the republican primary to force this choice. Frankly, a democrat getting elected in a state wide election is very unlikely in Alaska at the present time, and Stevens' legal troubles are the only thing keeping it close.
The last thing (and this is my reason for voting for Stevens) is that Alaskans do pay attention to national elections, and the looming likelihood of a democratic president, with a 60 seat majority in the senate was not a very appealing outcome for a staunchly conservative state. We could do very little to affect the presidential outcome, but we could prevent another democrat from making the trip to DC. Stevens will not serve in this capacity again, even if his appeal is successful, it will come too late to save his senate seat. What will happen is that we will have a special election to elect his successor, and I have little doubt that will be a conservative republican (it could even be Palin, LOL). So, we shall see what happens, it should be quite interesting.
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Frankly, the fact that Ted Stevens is even close to winning doesn't speak highly of Alaskans, IMO. He hasn't officially won yet. It's too close to call and they still have some absentee ballots to count. I think the reason Alaskans voted for him is because they didn't want to give the seat to a Democrat. By voting for him, when he is forced out of the Senate, which he most definitely will be, the Governor will then be able to appoint someone to take his place. By allowing Sarah Palin to appoint someone, a Republican will keep the seat, as opposed to just electing Stevens' Democrat opponent.
Regardless, I
That's good to know. So for future reference I'll make sure that I don't commit
Chrissy
mom to Aidan 8/21/03
Grayson Blaine 12/30/07
I think I read that he was still able to run, that there isn't a law that states a felon can't be a senator, but I also heard something about the Senate possibly kicking him out if he does win.
LOL!
For the record.. I only get loopy in Dec. when we only have 2 hours of sunlight a day. Of course, whether that is a product of the lack of light, or the amount of rum in my egg nog is up for debate, LOL. So, let me see if I can explain the Ted Stevens thing (for the record, I didn't vote for McCain, but I did vote for Stevens.. I'll note my reasons below).
First, Alaskans are very angry about the way Ted's trial was handled. We all watched it very closely and many felt it wasn't particularly fair. I agree with those who think it had large problems, and while I don't necessarily think they got the verdict wrong, I hope that his appeal is handled better.
Second, the primary was very hotly contested and many republicans tried to vote in another choice for senator to prevent this very situation from happening. In Alaska, you don't have to be registered in a party to vote in their primary, you can request any party's ballot you want. So, many people think that we had quite a few democrats voting in the republican primary to force this choice. Frankly, a democrat getting elected in a state wide election is very unlikely in Alaska at the present time, and Stevens' legal troubles are the only thing keeping it close.
The last thing (and this is my reason for voting for Stevens) is that Alaskans do pay attention to national elections, and the looming likelihood of a democratic president, with a 60 seat majority in the senate was not a very appealing outcome for a staunchly conservative state. We could do very little to affect the presidential outcome, but we could prevent another democrat from making the trip to DC. Stevens will not serve in this capacity again, even if his appeal is successful, it will come too late to save his senate seat. What will happen is that we will have a special election to elect his successor, and I have little doubt that will be a conservative republican (it could even be Palin, LOL). So, we shall see what happens, it should be quite interesting.
(edited for spelling)
Edited 11/6/2008 1:29 pm ET by vvallejos
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