What would happen if Ted Stevens got sent to prison and still was re-elected?

all i have to say is series of tubes

Maybe, just maybe, he could share a cell with him.

@uberbatman—hilarious!!

It wouldn’t be without precedent. James Traficant was nearly elected from prison a few years ago. Traficant had soooo much more style though.

Well ideally, he’d get work release. Because if you’re going to elect a felon, you should have to actually have the felon as your representative. It’s only fair.

Or if not work release, he could just work from jail. I’d be down with that. The other inmates can be his new aides and pages. Yes.

There is a scary scenario gong around. If Sarah Palin doesn’t win VP. Since she is the Governer she has the right and obligation to appoint a Successor to a disqualified Senator. She can appoint herself and become Ted Stevens replacement. That means she would become Senator Palin. Then she can get the experience she needs and be better able to run for 2012!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!

@skord, the difference is that Traficant WASN’T elected, so that didn’t set a precedent.

Also, @peziak, Sarah Palin’s governor term would have to be ending for her to appoint herself as senator, I think. Not sure, but I don’t think you can just leave your elected office and appoint yourself somewhere else.

This is all moot, because George Bush is just going to pardon him.

Fortunately, should Begich not win the upcoming election against Stevens, Palin is prohibited by Alaskan law from naming herself to the office. The man she defeated for the spot as governor, Frank Murkoski ensured that. I wasn’t living here so don’t know all the details, but Murkoski started with a bit of an edge, he was already Senator, but ran and won election as Alaska’s governor. He then turned right around and appointed his daughter Lisa to the then vacant spot as Senator. A big furor arose and to cut to the end of the story, a law was enacted that basically says any such vacancy must now be filled by an election, no appointment. Of course, Alaskans being Alaskans, they returned Lisa to the spot as Senator when the next election rolled around. So, bottom line, Sarah can’t appoint herself as Senator.

If Stevens is re-elected, he will then resign and AL. can appoint a new person (obviously a Repulican) to fill the seat. That is what the steadily shrinking pool of Stevens’ supporters are hoping for.

edit: “is”: pool is hoping for.

@gailcalled I am not sure why the people of the great state of Alabama would have anything to do w/ it….

Alaska = AK :)

Oh, so sorry. That’s what comes from rushing. It gets me into trouble every time. A thousand pardons to the Alabamaramas.

“Great” state of Alabama?

@Marshall I am confident I can find redeeming qualities of any state. Even CA.

Okay. You’ve woken me up. What the hell’s wrong with CA?
(And I mean the real California, not SoCal.)

Nothing in particular. Just like there isn’t anything in particular wrong w/ AL.

I chose CA b/c that is where Marshall’s profile says he is from…to make a point

Oh, its ON now…!

I mean if we’re getting all personal, I was made in AL. Born there too. So I can tell you lots of great things about it.

Then, I’ll let you take over from here EP.

I was defending AL by proxy :)

@AstroChuck: Am I in the “real” California? I live on the Central Coast, about 200 miles north of Los Angeles!

Actually, I’m planning to move back to the Northwest in the near future (I lived in Seattle for a long time before moving down where I am now, and loved it—although I was raised in L.A.). I’m not too happy with what California has become.

I’ve been to Alabama, and would be only too happy to be made aware of its “redeeming” features. . . .

@EmpressPixie: I was “made” in Ohio, but left when I was six months’ old—so I can’t exactly call it my “home state”. I lived in the L.A. area for most of my youth and young adulthood.

If you aren’t north of the Grapevine or in San Diego or Santa Barbara then you might as well call that a different state.
Come to think of it, you can take Bakersfield as well.

Just checking in with a quick update: The vote counting has been going on much of the day and as of right now, it appears to remain close with Begich now having a THREE VOTE advantage. Yeah, a whole three votes but remember, he was three THOUSAND behind when this all started today. Still around 60,000 votes to count, tho’, so this is far from over.

The elevator said there were 30,000 to go and Begich was up by 800. But it was the elevator, so it’s not like it cites its sources.

Yeah, I heard that on NPR this morning. Looks like we won’t know the final tally until sometime next week.

Yep, it moved up to 800+ somewhat later in the evening. Hopefully they’ll get most of the count done today and with a big enough margin that a recount won’t be necessary, tho’ they are saying final count won’t be done till next week. If it’s taken ‘em this long to count the votes the first time, can you imagine how long a recount might take? Ha

Especially when you’re only talking about 100,000 votes.

Just in case anyone still cares, Mark Begich’s lead over Stevens is growing. The latest numbers, issued just before 1 p.m., show Begich up by 2,374 votes.
US SENATOR
Total
Number of Precincts 438
Precincts Reporting 438 100.0 %
Times Counted 311954/495731 62.9 %
Total Votes 307587
Begich, Mark DEM 146286 47.56%
Bird, Bob AI 12829 4.17%
Gianoutsos, Ted NA 1334 0.43%
Haase, Fredrick D. LIB 2398 0.78%
Stevens, Ted REP 143912 46.79%
Write-in Votes 828 0.27%

Wow! I thought I heard Thom Hartmann say there were only a little more than 100,000 total votes when in actuality it was just over 300,000.
Looking good! We keep getting closer to that magic number of sixty!

Happy 85th Birthday, Ted Stevens

Yes, we still care Alaska!

There’s supposed to be another vote count released some time between 4–5 PM Alaska time. ADN dot com should have this update and more news. It should lean to Begich, too. At this point Begich has enough of a lead that an automatic recount won’t kick in, tho’ Stevens could still request and pay for one himself. I’m not sure how deep his pockets are given his legal problems. Seems unlikely the RNC would pay for him to have one done with the Senate leadership calling for him to resign. Begich winning solves their problem nicely, so no way they’re going to pay for one. That said, Stevens is a fighter so I doubt he’ll go away quietly.

Latest and probably more or less final count has Begich as the winner.

US SENATOR
Total
Total Votes 315573
Begich, Mark DEM 150728 47.76%
Bird, Bob AI 13113 4.16% (This is the AK Independence Party, btw)
Gianoutsos, Ted NA 1375 0.44%
Haase, Fredrick D. LIB 2482 0.79%
Stevens, Ted REP 147004 46.58%
Write-in Votes 871 0.28%

Bedich by 3724

So Bob Bird likely got Todd’s vote.

Ted Stevens has just conceded to Mark Begich. I’m surprised in some ways, but not in others. With Stevens’ legal problems, makes sense that he’d listen to those close to him hinting that it was time to focus on the obvious, staying out of jail.

Happy birthday, Ted.

@AlaskaTundrea- Thanks for going above and beyond with all the updates. Lots of lurve your way plus a place in my fluther.