A must listen...Ted Stevens shows what is "Wrong with Washington. In this audio of an interview on Alaska Public Radio with Steve Heimel on Tuesday, Ted Steven was confronted by callers with questions about his recent indictment for lying on financial disclosure forms about favors he received from a campaign contributor. Stevens asserts that he is not accountable to his constituents and goes as far as scolding the listeners for asking relevant questions about his felony indictment. Not only does Stevens think he is above the law, but he pleads stupidity about the legal proceedings.

Stevens' gamble for an early trial suffered its first setback, when a judge refused a motion to move the trial to Alaska.

Sen. Ted Stevens cannot move his corruption trial from Washington to his home state of Alaska, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in a decision that could hamstring the powerful Republican's re-election bid [...]

Stevens, 84, had hoped to stand trial by day and campaign on nights and weekends. In a state where he is known as ''Uncle Ted,'' he could have faced a more sympathetic jury. Stevens was named the Alaskan of the Century in 2000, the Anchorage airport bears his name, and he has brought billions in federal aid to the frontier state.

Wednesday's ruling puts a damper on his campaign plans. Stevens asked for, and received, an unusually speedy trial that he hopes will clear his name before voters go to the polls. But with the trial in Washington, Democrats will have the state largely to themselves while Stevens is tethered to a defense table in the weeks leading up to the November election.

There's still about three weeks for Stevens to withdraw from the race. He'd have to do it after next Tuesday's primary, or one of his no-name primary challengers might end up being the nominee. But if he does it between next Wednesday and September 17-ish (give or take a day), state Republicans can replace him with however they want.

But the defense also rejected an offer by the judge to hold trial only four days a week so Stevens could spend more time in Alaska. The deal would've delayed the verdict, and the overriding Stevens bet seem to be that acquittal will boost his electoral prospects. So given that they've decided for early decision over more time at home, it suggests that Stevens intends to stick it out to the bitter end.

And if he's convicted? Who cares? It wouldn't be any worse than the big, double-digit deficit he currently faces against O2B Democrat Mark Begich.

On the web:

Mark Begich for Senate
Orange to Blue ActBlue Page

Stevens argued that he should be allowed to change the venue to his home State, so he could continue to campaign for an office that he is under indictment for selling out?  No Go!

Alaska..the state that  has more corrupt republicans than any other state in the union..and that's saying a lot!

Ivan Moore for the Anchorage Press and KTUU. 8/9-12. Likely voters. MoE 4.4% for overall sample, ~6.2 for primary samples. (7/30-31 results)

Stevens is surging back! Kidding. Begich has locked in support, while Stevens rebounds slightly (or maybe it's just float in the MoE).

In the House:

The good news is that Berkowitz is competitive with Parnell, but the really good news we're all hoping for is a Young victory in the GOP primary next Tuesday. Luckily, with the fragmented multi-candidate field, Young doesn't have to reach 50 percent. But with the massive MoE for these primary sub-samples, the GOP House primary is scary tight.

But the overall picture looks fantastic for Alaska Democrats, and with scandal depressing GOP fundraising in the state, the future is only slated to get better.

On the web:
Orange to Blue ActBlue page
Mark Begich for Senate
Ethan Berkowitz for Congress

Of all the DLC Clintonian hacks who constantly tested our limits of civility with their bloviating on pundits' shows, Lanny Davis may well have been the worst.  He did not shock anyone, of course, by signing on with fair and balanced Fox News just after the primary ended.  And now, in about an amusing article as I've read in some time, from the "prominent Washington lawyer and a political analyst" in the equally fair and balanced Washington Times, comes an article reminding us that, in fact, Ted Stevens has not yet concluded his trial.

[From the Frog Pond]

You know, Lanny Davis is right.  Sen. Ted Stevens, like all individuals under federal indictment, is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.  Ted Stevens has been indicted by a grand jury for committing seven felonies.  And last Thursday, in new filings in the case, prosecutors revealed that Ted Stevens turned a $5,000 investment into a $155,000 profit through the use of an $31,000 interest-free loan that was both improper and never disclosed in his senate filings.  

This has been a very bad week for Ted. First there was his sorry fundraising and new evidence against him in his corruption case. Then late in the day yesterday came two more damaging stories.

First, prosecutors released new evidence that there was a quid-pro-quo in his relationship with VECO. While the case is build around the fact that he accepted gifts and failed to disclose them, the new information shows the favors went both ways.

But in new court filings last night, the feds laid out evidence from wiretaps and seized emails to show in detail some favors Stevens allegedly did for the company. Prosecutors made the disclosure in a motion seeking to introduce the information at Stevens' trial set for September.

When Stevens was indicted, the prosecutors were questioned why they weren't making bribery charges and they implied that the statute of limitations had passed, though they didn't say that explicitly. The release of this information, though, does fairly clearly show that this case is about the bribery.

But that wasn't the only bad news for Ted yesterday. In another set of court documents filed Thursday, prosecutors had an e-mail from Stevens to a "Person A," who turned out to be a witness that was to appear before the grand jury.

By mid-May 2007, Stevens learned that Person A had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in D.C. On May 17, 2007, Stevens sent Person A two emails that discussed Person A's upcoming grand jury testimony. In the first email, Stevens told Person A that "I hope we can work something out to make sure you aren't led astray on this occasion."

In the second, Stevens was more explicit: "don't answer questions you don't KNOW the answers to."

Maybe he thought the Tubes wouldn't keep a record of the Internets he sent to try to influence a witness, something the judge in his case is likely to take a rather dim view of.

Stevens is facing lots of mandatory prison time, and the evidence is a SLAM DUNK!!

Prosecutors Reveal More in Stevens Case
http://www.adn.com/...

Federal prosecutors offered a glimpse of previously unseen evidence against U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens in new court filings

"... senator used inside help to profit from Florida condo."

"... a secret $5,000 investment ... $100,000 in quick profits."

"... Stevens sought jobs from Veco for a son and a grandchild and a new Jeep Cherokee for his daughter..."

What else is on the wiretapped phone conversations?  And in the e-mails?  
Where else within the Corrupt Bastards Club (CBC) will the investigation lead?
And, did the FBI find any CBC tee-shirts and caps at Ted's Girdwood chalet?

I have a sense that this story is only just beginning to unfold!

Give the long, detailed article a full read (more excerpts follow below):

There's bad news and worse news for Stevens today. First, candidates had to file fundraising reports for the August 26th primary. Orange to Blue challenger Mark Begich  outraised Ted Stevens $412,549.02 to $269,274.00.

That's the bad news. This is the worse news, worse if you're Stevens, that is. Via the Anchorage Daily News, federal prosecutors have released more information they intend to use as evidence in his upcoming trial.

New information filed late Thursday by federal prosecutors says Sen. Ted Stevens made more than $100,000 in profit off a Florida real estate deal after a friend secretly loaned him $31,000 interest-free to buy a condominium....

Stevens failed to report the personal loan in the condo deal when he filed his 2001 Senate financial disclosure forms, prosecutors said in their motion.

Court filings filed late Thursday also reveal other new evidence that prosecutors intend to use to prove Stevens didn't just make innocent paperwork mistakes when he failed to disclose the value of Veco's renovations to his Girdwood home.

They say he also failed to disclose that Bill Allen, the former Veco CEO, installed a backup generator -- at Stevens' home and at the senator's request -- that Stevens never paid for....

There are "multiple instances of Allen providing, at Stevens' request, things of value to benefit two of Stevens' children and one of Stevens' grandchildren," proseuctors say.

Prosecutors said other evidence they plan to introduce will include "communications between Stevens and a personal friend that demonstrates Stevens' consciousness of guilt."

Meanwhile, Stevens' lawyers are arguing that the case against him is unconstitutional and are demanding that the charges against him be dropped. We'll see how that goes for them.

The latest news in the Ted Stevens/VECO bribery case is quite possibly the most shocking.

According to the federal government, in addition to the house additions, Ted Stevens accepted a free generator from VECO CEO Bill Allen.

Ted's reason for wanting a generator is shocking enough.

a new court filing from the federal government suggests that Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was one of the people who was concerned that the transition from "99" to "00" would wreak havoc on the nation's electric grid.

But the real shocker is that Ted Stevens requested the free generator via e-mail

Remember this 2006 ad from VoteVets?

This ad ran against George Allen, Rick Santorum and Conrad Burns. All were defeated for reelection.

The same vote against giving our troops the body armor they needed that the ad criticizes was also cast by 17 Republican Senators seeking reelection this year:

Lamar Alexander (TN)
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
Thad Cochran (MS)
Norm Coleman (MN)
Susan Collins (ME)
John Cornyn (TX)
Elizabeth Dole (NC)
Mike Enzi (WY)
Lindsey Graham (SC)
Jim Inhofe (OK)
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Gordon Smith (OR)
Ted Stevens (AK)
John Sununu (NH)

And not only that, but these Senators had all been elected or reelected just months before. That is, the Senate class of 2002, elected in November of that year, cast these votes in April of 2003, at the very beginning of their terms, and nearly six years away from having to face the voters for it.

They thought you'd forget. They needed you to forget.

But one thing they weren't counting on was the troops still being deployed and still fighting six years later.

But they are. And though some of these clowns have since tried to make amends, the fact remains that at the critical time, they put party politics over the lives of our troops, and voted against giving them the armor they needed.

They should all go down for it, and American voters should make a special point of sinking them for their cowardly votes that they hoped we'd forget.

These ads are just the way to do it, too. But they're not on the air.

They've been produced, as you can see. All they need are new tags to identify the 17 Republican Senators up for reelection this year who voted against giving our troops adequate body armor, and they're ready to go. They've been proven in the field, and you can see the impact they'd have right here before your very eyes.

But they're not on the air. And as far as I can tell, there are no plans to put them there.

Seventeen Republican Senators, some of them very, very vulnerable this year. What could we do with those seats in our hands?

Why aren't these ads on the air?

Big time Democrats, donors, and other convention goers: think on this, please. Use the time we spend together in Denver to remedy this.

Why aren't these ads on the air, and what can we do to change that?

Targetpoint consulting making Alaska calls

There has been a lot of chatter in Washington over how earmarks have muddied the process.  Legislators put in requests for millions of dollars and there is no debate, accountability or transparency.  Well it is time to expose those legislators like Pat Roberts and Ted Stevens for all the money - - that would be all of your money they have wasted on pet projects.

Here is a diary that is cross-posted over at the Slattery blog, a Blog for Kansas.  The campaign has come up with a creative way to address the out of control earmark system in Washington and the members of Congress slip them into bills only to later have landmarks named for themselves.  

Do you have a camera?  You will want to get the batteries charged if you do.

Here is the post that went out as an email today from Slattery's campaign manager, Julie Merz.

Alaska's IBEW Local 1547 commissioned the usually reliable Hayes Research Group to do a poll covering the period August 6 and August 7, of 400 likely Alaska voters.  The results are surprising some:

Obama --- 45%
McCain --- 40%
Nader --- 2%
Other --- 2%
Undecided --- 10%

The Obama campaign offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Palmer and Juneau are entirely unprecedented.  The Alaska Democratic Party even offered, a couple of weeks ago, to help John McCain's campaign find an Alaska office - they have none - but they haven't answered the queries.  Even more startlingly, yesterday, the Republican Mayor of Fairbanks endorsed Barack Obama.

You know things are bad, when your very oldest political allies want you out of Washington:

``He has served Alaska for 40 years, but his time is over,'' said former Governor Walter Hickel, who launched Stevens's Senate career by appointing him to a vacancy in 1968.

Even the guy who appointed him in the first place wants Ted Stevens gone.

On the web:
Mark Begich for Senate
Orange to Blue ActBlue Page

Most sentient beings get the willies when we hear about how fast the Arctic icecap is disappearing.  But in Alaska?  Roll out those offshore leases! Anchorage Daily News, 5/7/07:

Right now, however, the forecast is for western Alaska and North Slope communities to enjoy a relatively early summer, with ice-free shipping lanes opening up a couple weeks earlier than last year, National Weather Service ice forecaster Kathleen Cole said Friday.
...
[T]hat's good news for northern Alaskans. A longer ice-free season means barges can reach Kotzebue and Barrow earlier and later in the summer, thus eliminating the high cost of receiving food and supplies by air that much longer. And summer seismic crews employed by oil companies won't be hampered as much by ice.  Said Cole: "I think everybody is going to be happy about that."

Since then, some academicians have been busy mapping out the apportionment of the Arctic Ocean floor:

(Legend below the fold.)

Ahh, when you've served in the Senate 200 years, I guess you get to rewrite the criminal code whenever it suits your interests.

"This is an indictment for failure to disclose gifts that are controversial in terms of whether they were or were not gifts. It's not bribery; it's not some corruption; it's not some extreme felony."

We all thought that felonies were felonies, but apparently that's no longer the case. We now have:

Maybe we can add a few categories:

And yeah, some gifts are controversial. Like when oil company execs add a $250,000 addition to your house, complete with Viking gas grill and other fancy furniture, and top it all off with a shiny brand new Land Rover. Merely "controversial".

That's not corruption or bribery. And it's certainly not an "extreme felony". Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye, campaigning for Stevens this week, would certainly classify the charges as "felonies hardly worth worrying yourself over." So would the rest of the GOP Senate caucus. And Joe Lieberman.

But to everyone else interested in good, clean, and ethical government, it really is time for Mark Begich.

On the web:
Mark Begich for Senate
Orange to Blue ActBlue page

As of right now, Republican Gordon Smith, Elizabeth Dole, Ted Stevens, Bob Schaffer and Susan Collins are all skipping the GOP convention. Has this ever happened? We've had recent defectors like Zell "duel challenger" Miller, but have we ever had numerous incumbents skip out on honoring their party in such a public fashion?

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley