Convicted Senator Ted Stevens Now 814 Votes Behind in Alaska

Posted by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet at 9:30 AM on November 13, 2008.

Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator who recently was convicted of corruption, has lost his lead in Alaska's Senate race to his closest rival, Democrat Mark Begich, as of late Wednesday, according to an update released by the state's Division of Elections.

The results are continuing to trickle in because the state's Division of Elections is in the process of counting some 40,000 outstanding absentee and early votes. Until Wednesday's counting, Steven was ahead by more than 3,000 votes. In addition to the uncounted absentee and early votes, there are an additional 5,000 so-called "question" ballots that have to be verified before being counted.

The agency's report, showed Begich, who was losing after election night, now leading Stevens by 814 votes -- 132,196 to 131,382 -- with the state still to count roughly 40,000 more ballots over the next week.. There are three other minor party candidates in the race, as well as write-in votes.

Stevens has been convicted in federal court of political corruption charges, leading to much speculation about his political fate if he wins re-election. He is the Senate's longest-serving Republican.