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As we told you on Wednesday, the Justice Department moved to dismiss former Sen. Ted Stevens’ indictment on Wednesday, effectively voiding his conviction from last October on seven counts of filing false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms. Click here for Wednesday’s LB post; here for Thursday’s WSJ article. Nobody seems overly thrilled with the outcome, least of all Stevens’s attorney, Williams & Connolly’s Brendan Sullivan. “This jury verdict was obtained unlawfully,” read the statement penned by W&C. “The misconduct of government prosecutors, and one or more FBI agents, was stunning.” The statement went on to decry the “corrupt”...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- 2008 was the year that Gov. Sarah Palin presented America with a memorable image of Alaska and - accurate or not - made it stick with a joke about hockey moms, pitbulls and lipstick. Palin - little-known outside Alaska and with only two years in office - was catapulted onto the national political scene when she was picked by Republican presidential candidate John McCain to be his running mate.

An FBI Agent involved with the prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens is accusing prosecutors of gross misconduct in the execution of the case: The complainant, a federal employee with “extensive knowledge of the investigation and trial in this case,” according to Judge Sullivan, also alleges that a member of the prosecution team schemed to relocate a witness to keep him from testifying and also intentionally withheld evidence from the defense lawyers. Judge Sullivan said the complainant is not a "stranger" to the proceedings and was "significantly" involved in the investigation and prosecution. Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, was...

Witness in Ted Stevens Trial: I Lied WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2008(AP) One of the government's witnesses against convicted Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska says he didn't tell the truth on the stand about an immunity deal with the Justice Department in exchange for his testimony. But federal prosecutors said Friday that his current story is the false one. "I testified to the fact that there was never immunity for me or my family and friends," welder David Anderson said in a November letter to a federal judge placed in court files by Stevens' lawyers. "That is simply not true." The...

WASHINGTON (AP) - One of the government's witnesses against convicted Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska now says he wasn't truthful on the stand. David Anderson, who worked on Stevens' house for VECO founder Bill Allen, testified during the trial that there was no agreement with the Justice Department for immunity for him, his family or friends in exchange for his testimony.

Anchorage, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska's incoming senator is bullish on gun rights, wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and believes less government is better. And he's a Democrat. But "definitely different than a New York Democrat," says Mark Begich. "I'm from Alaska." Begich, the 46-year-old, two-term Anchorage mayor, will take office in January after narrowly defeating 85-year-old Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the history of the Senate. Part of Stevens' undoing in his bid for a seventh term was his conviction on federal felony charges last month. With Republican Gov. Sarah...

The Democratic Anchorage mayor widened his lead to 3,724 votes in today's counting of absentee and questioned ballots. The only votes left to count are approximately 2,500 special absentees from people living outside the U.S. or in remote parts of Alaska with no polling place.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens loses re-election bid From AP - go to URL

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens dropped further behind Democrat Mark Begich in his re-election bid Tuesday as the convicted felon's 85th birthday became a grueling wait that could determine whether his decades-long hold on power is over. The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed the Anchorage mayor by 2,374 votes out of 290,198 counted as election officials continued tallying absentee and other ballots. Begich had led by about 1,000 votes before Tuesday's count.

AK-Senate: Begich Widens Lead Democrat Mark Begich has nearly doubled his lead over Republican Sen. Ted Stevens with just 8,000 votes remaining to be counted in the Alaska Senate race, according to tabulations provided by the state's Division of Elections. With 16,000 of the 24,000 remaining ballots counted, according to the Anchorage Daily News, Begich now has 146,286 votes (47.56 percent) while Stevens has 143,912 votes (46.79 percent). Under Alaska law, a recount would be mandated only if the final margin is less than .5 percent ; Begich's lead is currently .77 percent. (Hat tip: Fellow numbers geek and Post...

Democrat Mark Begich now leads Sen. Ted Stevens (R) by just over 1,000 votes with more than 90 percent of the total ballots counted in the high-profile Alaska Senate race. The Alaska Division of Elections counted another 14,500 votes on Friday and Begich's lead increased from 841 before the day started to 1,022 when the counting ended.

Young retains US House seat in Alaska By MARY PEMBERTON – 1 hour ago ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After the toughest fight of his long political career, Alaska voters have returned Republican incumbent Don Young to the U.S. House for his 19th term. Young, 75, defied pre-election pundits by surviving a strong challenge from Democrat Ethan Berkowitz. Young was returned to office despite being under investigation and linked to an ongoing corruption scandal. The Associated Press declared Young the winner Wednesday, with Young getting 50 percent of the vote compared with Berkowitz's 45 percent.

According to the Division of Elections, an updated vote count on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. shows Mayor Mark Begich with a three-vote lead over Sen. Ted Stevens. The Division of Elections began counting absentee ballots on Wednesday. Begich currently has 125,019 votes and Stevens has 125,016 votes. The Division of Elections will continue counting absentee ballots the rest of the week.

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, the titan of Alaska politics convicted of felony charges last month, fell behind by more than 800 votes Wednesday as the count resumed in his re-election bid. Democrat Mark Begich, the two-term mayor of Anchorage, began the day down more than 3,200 votes but went up by 814 as officials resumed their counting of early and absentee ballots. The tally was 132,196 to 131,382. Neither side was claiming victory or conceding defeat, with tens of thousands of outstanding ballots. "I've always said that this would be a close race," Begich said in a statement. "I'm confident...

In an interview tonight with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Palin said she hasn’t ruled out filling Sen. Ted Stevens’ Senate seat if he is reelected and the Senate ejects him for his felony conviction. She said she doesn’t want “to close any doors” on her future. She also said she is not “egotistical” enough to appoint herself to the seat. That comment is slightly problematic, in that the seat can only be permanently filled by the winner of a special election. At best, Palin could appoint someone in the 60- to 90-day interim before the election. When Gov. Frank Murkowski became...

O'Reilly just bet Dick Morris that Sarah Palin would appoint herself to the Senate. The only problem: Alaskan governors can't appoint vacant senate seats, because of the murkowski scandal. More "expert analysis" from O'Reilly and his pals.

The elections division still has over 10,000 ballots left to count today and thousands more through next week, but the latest numbers show Mark Begich leading Sen. Ted Stevens 125,019 to 125,016. The new numbers, reflecting nearly 43,000 absentee ballots counted today, are from all over the state. Election night, Ted Stevens led the Democratic Begich by about 3,000 votes. The state today is counting a total of about 60,000 absentee and questioned ballots. The Division of Elections said it expects to count roughly 35,000 additional absentee and questioned ballots over the next week.

Hold onto your seatbelts: The U.S. Senate race in Alaska may be headed for a photo finish between incumbent GOP Sen. (and convicted felon) Ted Stevens and his Democratic challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. After a count of 28,000 absentee ballots, from all over the 49th state, Stevens' lead of 3,500 votes had been reduced to 971 votes. State officials expect to count 60,000 absentee votes. They will count an additional 35,000 provisional ballots and challenged ballots next week.

Stevens' lead in Alaska is down to 971 votes. It looks like the Dems are going to get Alaska AND Minnesota. And there are so-called Conservatives that just want to hand them Georgia as well. Stevens, Ted REP 118602 47.50% Begich, Mark DEM 117631 47.11%