From the "Just because I'm paranoid…" file.

It's good to see I'm not the only one wondering about the background and goals of the Stevens prosecutors.

58…

…counting the idies.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Mark Begich, the Democratic Anchorage mayor, has defeated Sen. Ted Stevens in a closely contested, see-saw race for the United States Senate, according to Associated Press projections.

Franken's going to an automatic recount, and we can still defeat Saxby Chambliss.

I want it all.

Heard it first from Gordon.

La, la, la…

…the future former governor of Alaska can't hear you...

As she climbed the stairs to her plane, she ignored a reporter's question about how she'll vote next week in her state's Senate contest.

True enough…

Robert Arena…

It's up to the people of Alaska to reign in Ted Stevens.

…but I'd still like to see a pre-election expulsion vote that would put the Senate Republicans on the record about the continued service of their felonious friend.
Of course, I'd like to see a 90 D Senate and about 400 of us in the House, too. The odds are, I figure, roughly the same this year.

It's up to you, Alaska.

There's always something to learn…

…about Sarah Palin, it seems. The ringing endorsement from her long-time political ally, indicted Senator Ted Stevens, is no surprise, unless you think that Senator McSame's a "maverick," too. This, though, was new to me...

Palin also has ties to VECO. When she ran for lieutenant governor in 2002, “she gathered $5,000 — or about 10 percent of her campaign fund — from Veco officials or their wives,” including $500 from CEO Bill Allen. Allen gave Stevens expensive gifts over the years, including “a new Viking gas grill and a new tool shed full of tools.”

It's not the VECO ties. Well, it's that, too, but that's not what really caught my eye. It's the 2002 run for Lt. Governor. I didn't know about that.

The "hockey mom," the breath of fresh air from small town Alaska, is turning out to be, well, a garden variety career politician, casting about for one higher office after another for nearly a decade and a half. She's pretty good at it, too, but it's not the story she's trying to sell, and it's not the change we need.

Oh frabjous day!

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

Despite concern I've seen expressed that this might open the door to an untainted opponent for Democrat Mark Begicha, I can only see this as a good thing. I expect Stevens to bull his way through the August primary while persisting in his increasingly hollow cries of innocence, and expect the according benefits to accrue to Begicha in November, but electoral considerations pale next to those of sound governance and accountability.

The immediate effect of the indictment is to remove Stevens from his role as Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee. Anything that diminishes Stevens' role in the appropriations process is a good thing.

It's a good thing, too, when one of the poster boys for the Republican culture of corruption that held sway for too long is called to account. As flagrant in his abuse of power as he has been unorthodox in his manipulation of federal appropriations, Stevens isn't simply one of the bad guys, he's one of the worst.

Taking him down, even just a notch for now? Yep, a good thing.