Ted Stevens Convicted

Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, has been found guilty of filing false financial statements with the Senate.

I wrote here about the effect of the scandal on Stevens's current reelection campaign. Conventional wisdom has been that a conviction would hand the election to his Democratic opponent Mark Begich.

That may well be true, but there is at least one precedent to the contrary and, as with so many of my stories, it comes from my native state of Minnesota.

In 1990, the Republicans nominated Jon Grunseth for governor of that state. About two weeks before the general election, allegations surfaced that Grunseth had acted improperly toward some of his daughter's underage female friends. He withdrew from the race. Then-State Auditor Arne Carlson replaced him as the Republican candidate on the ballot. Despite having only a few days to campaign, Carlson defeated Democratic (DFL) incumbent Governor Rudy Perpich.

I'm not saying that lightning will strike twice, and there will be a similar outcome in Alaska, but who knows? Maybe Todd Palin can put his name on the ballot.