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November 17, 2008 - 1:41pm
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Merkley, Wyden to be joined by an Alaskan Democrat in the Senate?
By Britten Chase, PolitickerOR.com ReporterU.S. Senator-elect Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) is currently considered the country’s 57th and most recent Democratic Senator-elect after slow ballot counting kept Oregonians on the edge of their seats for several days after theElection.
But Merkley may no longer be the body’s latest Senator-elect. According to Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, the GOP may be ceding a Senate race in Alaska to Mark Begich (D-Alaska), where the state is still wading through ballots.
“The margins are very tight in two key Senate races. In Minnesota, where a recount will take place, our candidate leads by a mere 206 votes. In Georgia, our candidate won but faces a runoff due to state election law requiring the winner to garner 50% of the vote,” Duncan wrote in an "Action Alert" email to supporters Monday.
There was no mention of the Alaska race, where Begich led incumbent Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) by 1,022 votes as of Friday.
If the results stand, Begich will join Merkley and Senator-elects Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) as one of four Democratic challenges to successfully knock off a Republican incumbent in the 2008 general election. Begich’s addition will also give Democrats 58 seats in the Senate.
Related topics: Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, Mark Begich, Ted Stevens, Mike Duncan, Kay Hagan, Jeanne Shaheen
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Senator-elect Begich?
The odds for Senator Stevens' survival in the general election are very poor. The last 25,000 ballots, 13% of the total cast, will be counted tomorrow, but it's not over yet.
One wonders, though, if Duncan has written off the Alaska seat, or simply forgot to include it. Of course he may simply be trying to forget the prospects of a Republican being elected who was convicted three weeks ago of seven felonies connected to his role as U.S. Senator.
If Begich does win, it will relieve Republicans of the responsibility of expelling Stevens during the lame duck session, a prospect that truly worried them.
A Begich win would also hasten the end of Sarah Palin's career. She hoped to win Steven's seat in a special election. Her ticket is expected to finish under 60% in Alaska, despite Republicans there holding a 5-3 edge in party registrations over Democrats. With the price of oil falling off a cliff, the state's revenues will sustain a huge shortfall in the coming fiscal year and her fiduciary and personal profligacy chickens will come to roost.
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