Do you have an opinion on Ted Stevens having just been found guilty on 7 felony counts?

Maybe now he will drop out of the senate race.

Well, he’s only 84 and seems, at least superficially, in-your-face about staying on the ballot.

isn’t there some sort of rule about being a convicted felon and a Senator? And if not, doesn’t it seem like there probably should be?

Edit: I also sort of don’t understand the part about thinking his wife was handling everything. 1) Isn’t that a rather blatant cop-out? 2) His wife testified for him, but then he threw her under the bus?

he screwed up, he got caught, and he’s probably going to prison. That’s how it’s supposed to work…..and yes, I’m a conservative.

Or; according to some Alaskans, “he screwed up, he got caught, and he’s probably going” to be re-elected.

Isn’t a little weird that there is no rule against him dropping out of his race? I mean wouldn’t that be the responsible thing?

Yes, there is a rule about being a convicted felon and a Senator. It’s that they have to let you go to Senate.

I think it would be amusing to have guards deliver him there in the orange jumpsuit and cuffs.

Sigh. It just reinforces my opinion of politicians in general.

@laureth,
Article 1 of the Constitution actually spells out treason, felony, and breach of the peace as the only reasons congresscritters CAN be kept from session.

It is my understanding, from news reports, that should he win his re-election (which is felt to be unlikely) that he can only be kicked out of Senate by a 2/3 vote of the Senators in favor of the action.

By tradition, such action isn’t taken until all appeals have been exhausted. He plans to appeal and the appeals will take months.

Hopefully, since he was stupid enough to push to have the trial early and it is now done before the election, the good people of AK will vote him out of office.

Snoopy, that’s pretty much what I was thinking, too.

There’s that section in the Constitution where it says that members cannot be held back from attending Congress, and while “felony” is one of the exceptions that allows them to be restrained, the fact that an expulsion from Congress happens after all of that implies that very often, felony didn’t quite take them away from their position.

Anyway, I bet Dubya’s going to pardon him anyway. It’s likely a moot point. Business as usual.

The Anchorage Daily News, adn dot com, has lots of Alaska-centric reactions to this news.

@Alaska. Is this guy really that popular that he has a chance?

@Snoopy Yes, he’s really that popular with many. He’s all most Alaskans have ever known. He’s been the Senator for Alaska since there was an Alaska, probably even before, if that makes sense, and despite his latest troubles, he has done lots of good for the state, including being in on statehood and the pipeline. And then there’s that Bridge to Nowhere….Ha

I’ve only lived here five years so I don’t have that sort of loyalty to him, but some of my friends do and see it as just that, “loyalty” to the man who did so much good for this state. As a result, they’ll continue to give him their vote. I’m cautiously hopeful that Begich can win, it seems just so obvious that he should win in a landslide, but given the surreal political atmosphere of Alaska of late, I’m not betting on this one being a gimme, nor is Begich, I’m sure. I mean, the sheer fact that Sarah Palin didn’t call on the man to resign should give you a hint of the power that this man holds, even now. I pasted the comment from the Alaskan Republican Party spokesman in on the yard sign thread, I think. I’ll see if I can find it and repost it here. It amounted to vote for Stevens even now cos he’s Republican. Yep, found it….

“We need to continue to support Sen. Stevens. We need to vote for him because a vote for him is a vote for a conservative candidate, a Republican who best represents the interests and beliefs of Alaskans. … We don’t know what happens in the future. But if you don’t want Mark Begich, you vote for Ted Stevens.” – McHugh Pierre, spokesman for the Alaska Republican Party.

@Alaska fascinating!

If the state reelects him I might be tempted to side with Palin’s husband and the Alaskan seperatists.

@Brian; that means you would also get to wing him from a helicopter, doesn’t it? (Just a little flesh wound.)