Keep An Eye on the Alaskan Senate Race

Last month, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was indicted on charges of corruption. In the midst of fighting those charges, Stevens is running for his seventh Senate term.

He rolled out his first ad this week — which I keep replaying just to hear the last line: “Without Ted, we’re toast.”

Despite Stevens’ problems, the odds are pretty good that he’ll win the Republican primary. He really is a major figure in Alaska — the Anchorage airport is named for him — and he’s more than proven his ability to bring home federal funding.

But the Democrats have already settled on a candidate who may prove to be Stevens’ kryptonite. Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, is running against Stevens. Begich has already made a name for himself on ethics reform and has made it clear that ethics will be the question he will be campaigning on.

I’m sure that’s a question that Stevens, whether or not he manages to handle his corruption charges, doesn’t want to talk about.