Ch-ching....

Late-breaking news: Sen. Ted Stevens vows to fight his conviction on federal corruption charges and says he remains a candidate for re-election.

The first senators for Alaska were Democrats, beginning at the time of initial statehood (1959). Sen. Ernest Gruening was replaced by another Democrat, Mike Gravel, at the start of 1969; while the other first senator, Bob Bartlett, was replaced by Republican Ted Stevens at the same time.

Republican Frank Murkowski - later replaced by his daughter Lisa - have held onto Gravel's seat since 1981, but for Stevens, his reign is about to end, after 38 years. He and Democrat Mark Begich (mayor of Anchorage) have been in a dead tie in the polls for his re-election, whereas Stevens had previously been re-elected by wide margins, time after time.

So, long story short: the Dems just picked up a seat in the senate, in the state that's home to the opposing party's candidate for VP, no less.

An interesting part of this story, though, is of the incoming Senator Mark Begich: his father, Nick Begich, was a representative in congress from 1970-1972, at the end of which he disappeared in a plane crash, the remains of which have never been discovered. But the Republican that he beat for his seat in congress back in 1970 was... Frank Murkowski, who as mentioned above, ended up making it as a senator in 1981.

Murkowski held his seat in the senate until he gave it to his daughter Lisa in 2002, as he had won governorship of Alaska. Which he then lost to some zero-experience wretch from his own party, named Sarah Palin. Now all that's left for Mark Begich is to steal the governorship from Palin in 2010. And uh, hand off his senate seat to someone in his family.

How the fuck is it allowed for an elected official to just pass on their job to a family member? It happens all the time, though I've no idea how or why. I guess I have more reading to do.