Small favors

Seemingly against all odds, Ted Stevens has officially lost in his Senate reelection bid. Now behind by more than 3700 votes and with only 2500 votes left to count, it has become statistically impossible for Stevens to prevail (even in Alaska). For the country, Stevens' loss offers two opportunities for celebration.

First, we can all rejoice that the good people of Alaska weren't faced with the embarrassment of having reelected a convicted felon to the Senate. After the slapstick that was the McCain/Palin campaign, Alaskans don't need any more farce in their politics. Considering Steven's egregious ethics violations and the honestly ridiculous gifts he accepted (has anyone seen that horrible fish sculpture?), it seems beyond belief that this is Stevens' first trip to the cookie jar. This is only the first time he got caught with his hand in it. Bravo to Alaskans for refusing to allow Stevens another opportunity to sell his votes.

More importantly, Stevens' loss ensures that Sarah Palin can't appoint herself to fill his seat, an outcome that several news outlets, including this one, had predicted might be in the offing if Stevens won. No Congress - and certainly not the current Democratically controlled one - wants to profane the dignity of its political body by allowing a convicted felon to continue as a voting member. If Stevens had been reelected, the Senate would have been forced to remove him from office, thus setting the stage for Palin to potentially appoint herself to fill the seat or (worse!) participate in a special election. Such an outcome would have given Alaskans the chance to vote for a felon and a maverick-y fighter who pals around with real Americans all in the same election cycle.

That's a hell of a lot of democracy to handle all at once. It's probably better this way.