Friday, February 10th, 2012

Stevens Trails Begich in Vote Tally

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Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 10:45 am

I don’t know if I can handle any more Alaska drama!

The Anchorage Daily News reports this morning that Democratic Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich has pulled ahead of Sen. Ted Stevens in the vote tally expected to take about another week to complete.

Begich has been trailing Stevens by 1.5 percent in the count, a bizarre situation since Stevens was convicted on seven counts of federal bribery-related charges one week before Election Day.  Today, Begich is ahead by 814 votes, with 40,000 questioned and mail-in ballots still to be counted.

The Daily News notes a number of factors that favor Begich. First, ballots from Anchorage, where Begich is a popular mayor, won’t be counted until Monday or Wednesday of next week. Those are also likely to break Begich for another reason. During the campaign, Begich pushed voters to vote early.  Stevens depended on a last-minute appearance in Alaska, and a media blitz a few days before Nov. 4, to get out the vote.

It’s too close to count out either candidate — but a promising turn of events for Begich.

Categories & Tags: Politics| | | |

Comments

2 Comments

Frank
Comment posted November 13, 2008 @ 12:12 pm

There are three fundamentalist communities in Alaska…the Mat-Su Borough including Wasilla, the Kenai Peninsula and the Fairbanks suburb of North Pole. Stevens had huge election day majorities in those three communities, giving him perhaps twice as many votes as was the size of his election day lead. But all over the state, Democratic voters cast their ballots early, as you note. The payoff is seen in Begich's 4,000-vote edge in the half of the absentee and questioned ballots cast and counted to date.

Even Palin didn't give McCain a boost in Alaska. As more of the truth of her dishonesty and incompetence has come out, she has descended swiftly into disfavor. Stevens, in the wake of his seven-count conviction, is running about 12 points behind the presidential ticket. Oddly, Congressman Don Young will win with about 50% of the vote, despite the public having expected an imminent indictment for him for the past 18 months. He's had many races that were as tight over his decades in office, but he last lost to a dead man…the disappeared father of Senate candidate Begich.

Kansan
Comment posted November 13, 2008 @ 8:12 pm

There are three fundamentalist communities in Alaska…the Mat-Su Borough including Wasilla, the Kenai Peninsula and the Fairbanks suburb of North Pole. Stevens had huge election day majorities in those three communities, giving him perhaps twice as many votes as was the size of his election day lead. But all over the state, Democratic voters cast their ballots early, as you note. The payoff is seen in Begich's 4,000-vote edge in the half of the absentee and questioned ballots cast and counted to date.

Even Palin didn't give McCain a boost in Alaska. As more of the truth of her dishonesty and incompetence has come out, she has descended swiftly into disfavor. Stevens, in the wake of his seven-count conviction, is running about 12 points behind the presidential ticket. Oddly, Congressman Don Young will win with about 50% of the vote, despite the public having expected an imminent indictment for him for the past 18 months. He's had many races that were as tight over his decades in office, but he last lost to a dead man…the disappeared father of Senate candidate Begich.

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