Ted Stevens has lost the election in Alaska to Mark Begich. Hey, it only took two weeks. Here’s a guy who almost won reelection to the Senate after having been convicted of felonies. Were I Michelle Malkin I would say something about stupid Alaskan voters, mostly because Michelle likes the word “stupid.” Malkin is working with stupidity as evidence, though, so there’s something tragically ironic there — Oh, I forgot tragedy implies a fall from great heights for the central tragic figure — heights of stupidity don’t count. But I digress.

Ted Stevens has lost his Senate election in a state that did reelect Don Young, and in a state that elected Sarah Palin a mere two years ago. I’ll let you conclude as you will about the citizens of Alaska. My comments today note that the articles about Begich’s historic win — becoming the first Democratic Senator in Alaska in 30 years IS historic — all focus so much on the convict Stevens that you’d think the guy died! Breitbart carries the AP story, and the headline is all Stevens, the update i all Stevens, and Begich, the man who won the seat, is buried in the story. It’s almost like a eulogy, or an obituary. Well, that’s pretty much what Andrew Malcolm wrote, an obituary to a political career. The only thing he didn’t mention was the big grill Stevens got from, well, whoever.

The only surprise in the news is that Stevens is supposedly not going to ask President Bush for a pardon. That’s the scoop from the Crypt over at Politico. Seems Stevens is a bit testy. He even challenges a reporter on the meaning of the word “corruption,” but presumably he hasn’t a problem with the meaning of “no.” From The Crypt:

He continued to strike a defiant tone regarding his felony convictions. “That’s just your words,” he said to a reporter who asked about “corruption” charges. “As a matter of fact, when the Department of Justice announced this case, they said this was not a corruption case, this was not a bribery case. This was a simple matter of failing to disclose. So maybe some of this verbage that you’re using is not” accurate, he said.

He wouldn’t comment, though, on the appeal. “I’m still in the situation where there are still motions hanging, and everything else, on the trial. I’m not at liberty yet to talk about it, “he said. “We haven’t filed an appeal yet. We haven’t had the final motions of the trial. It won’t be till February. It’s a long process.”

That long process, he said, could complicate the vote on whether he remains in the GOP conference, which has been postponed until Thursday. “That is really the problem – a great problem – with the appeals process, because we won’t know until February. You understand? The whole proceeding with the court has been put off till February. I have no control over that,” he said.

In the meantime, would he be seeking a pardon from President Bush?

“No, no, no,” he said.

He complains he has no control over timing. He did have control over accepting all those gifts, though. He accepted them anyway, then decided not to report them. The real question is whether folks are going to investigate the building of the Palin home, now that the building of the Stevens home got him into trouble.