Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

Begich was declared the winner in Alaska’s Senate race after he “widened his lead to 3,724 votes in Tuesday's count of absentee and questioned ballots. The lead is insurmountable, as the only votes left to count are approximately 2,500 ballots from overseas,” the Anchorage Daily News reports. “Stevens could ask for a recount but his campaign would have to pay for it. The state pays if the margin is within .5 percent of the total votes cast. But Begich leads by just over 1 percent with more than 315,000 votes cast in the race.”

What's going on up there above the lower 48?

Anyhoo, a win is a win, and the Dems now have 58 votes (theoretically) to play with in the next session, including, of course, the new Senate Majority Leader, Joe Lieberman.

Senate

*Note: The two vacant / undecided seats are currently open, but they will likely be filled by the beginning of this Congress:

• One Illinois seat is vacant: President-elect Barack Obama (D) resigned during the 110th Congress. This seat will be filled by a replacement appointed by a Democratic governor and will therefore likely be Democratic.
• One Minnesota seat is still too-close-to-call in the 2008 election. See United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2008.
• One Georgia seat will have a December 2008 run-off election. See United States Senate election in Georgia, 2008.
• Finally, Delaware does not yet have a vacancy but VP-elect Joe Biden (D) will resign on/before January 20, 2009. This seat will be filled by a replacement appointed by a Democratic governor and will therefore likely be Democratic.

Labels: Alaska, news and politics, Ted Stevens, U.S. Senate