democrats take alaskan senate seat

Last week, we told you about three Senate races to watch, as Democrats continued to fight in different parts of the country in too-close-to-call election bids.

At least one of them is going to have a happy ending.

While we wait for the runoff in Georgia and the recount in Minnesota, the tallies are nearly complete in Alaska and it appears that Sen. Ted Stevens, the long-standing Alaskan Republican known in his state as "Uncle Ted", will lose his seat to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a pillar of the U.S. Senate and Alaska icon who apparently couldn't survive his conviction on federal corruption charges. His defeat to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats closer to a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Stevens' ouster on his 85th birthday marks an abrupt realignment in Alaska politics and will alter the power structure in the Senate, where he has served since the days of the Johnson administration while holding seats on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

The slim margin by which Begich has prevailed may trigger a recount, but reports say that the remaining ballots to be counted come from Anchorage, where Begich is the mayor.

Stevens' downfall was being indicted and found guilty of seven charges of making false statements. The lame duck senator could face up to five years of prison for each count.

Things are looking up on Sarah Palin's cold frontier.

it's not over (dems fight on in three states)

You may have thought that the elections were over and done with as soon as you heard the words "President-Elect," but three Democrats across the country are fighting on for Senate seats as their races are still too close to call.

In Minnesota, comedian-turned-politician Al Franken is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. The state is undertaking what appears to be a recount as only about 200 votes separate the two candidates.

Down in Georgia, Democratic candidate Jim Martin has forced Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss into a runoff election. We'll know the fate of that Senate seat after the results come in from the Dec. 2 contest. (By the way, Chambliss seems to think that he's in a runoff because so many black people voted in Georgia.)

And finally, there's a showdown taking place in Sarah Palin's stomping grounds of Alaska! It seems that voters, even those that are traditonally Republican, don't take kindly to their senator being convicted of three felonies during a re-election campaign. Alaskan officials are still counting the votes, which at last count showed Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich ahead by a razor-thin margin of only three votes. The state Democratic Party is "cautiously optimistic."

It's going to take hard work, but Democrats could win these three seats. And if that were to happen, they would be entering the next session of Congress with a filibuster-proof supermajority of 60 solid Democratic votes, with or without Joe Lieberman in the caucus.

We can't wait to see the results of these exciting races! We'll keep you posted on the outcomes. In the meantime, please consider making contributions to Jim Martin's runoff campaign in Georgia.