Ted Stevens Is Going Down

With the exception of President George W. Bush, there’s probably no politician who deserves more blame for the disaster that’s befallen the Republican Party than Ted Stevens.

The Alaska Senator – who was convicted on seven counts of federal corruption charges just last month – is Washington’s preeminent “Godfather of Pork,” a surly and snide son of a bitch who had the nerve to blame fiscal conservatives for the GOP’s recent electoral ass-kicking.

Anyway, Stevens is probably going to get booted by his Senate colleagues over his corruption conviction (which he’s appealing and which President Bush will likely pardon him for), but there’s now a good chance that Alaska voters might show him the door first.

Prior to today, Stephens was leading his Democratic opponent Mark Begich by 3,257 votes in his bid for an eighth Senate term.

After the first round of counting absentee ballots, however, Begich has closed the gap to just three votes.

Also, there are still tens of thousands of ballots left to be counted, and it could be the end of the week before Alaska’s elections division finishes its initial tally.

Should Stephens win – and then end up being removed from office – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could run for his seat in a special election.