Stevens loses Senate race in Alaska

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, convicted last month on federal ethics charges, on Tuesday appeared to have lost his bid for a seventh term as final ballots were counted, giving Democrats at least 58 seats in the Senate for the first years of the Obama administration.

With an estimated 2,500 votes outstanding late Tuesday and other election-certification steps still to take place, Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, had taken a 3,724-vote lead out of more than 315,000 cast, and he declared victory.

"I am humbled and honored to serve Alaska in the United States Senate," Begich said. "It's been an incredible journey getting to this point, and I appreciate the support and commitment of the thousands of Alaskans who have brought us to this day."

Stevens did not concede the race. He could request a recount, but he would have to pay for it if the current vote margins hold.

The 2,500 votes left to count are special absentees from people living outside the U.S. or in remote parts of Alaska with no polling place. The state will count those final ballots Nov. 25.

Begich's victory would end the career of the longest-serving Republican senator in history and a pivotal figure in the history of his state.

It initially appeared Stevens would triumph despite his criminal conviction just days before the election. The defeat came on Stevens' 85th birthday at the end of a day that saw him avoid expulsion from the Senate Republican Caucus as his colleagues said they would await the final vote results.

"I wouldn't wish what I going through on anyone, my worst enemy," Stevens said earlier Tuesday in the Capitol.

Stevens' defeat will strengthen a majority that Democrats sought to keep as large as possible by allowing Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., to retain his high-profile committee chairmanship Tuesday.

Democrats dropped Lieberman from another panel, delivering a mild rebuke for his strong support of Sen. John McCain and other Republicans in this month's elections.

The decision was part of the postelection congressional tableaux as Senate Democrats and Republicans re-elected their current leadership teams for the first two years of the Obama administration. House Democrats met to make Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California their candidate for speaker and essentially kept their leadership intact as well, with Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland remaining majority leader.

Aware of the legislative battles ahead, Senate Democrats said they wanted to adhere to President-elect Obama's call for reconciliation and leniency for Lieberman.

A pragmatic dynamic also was at work. Having added seven new senators to their side, Democrats want to avoid driving Lieberman to the Republican fold. Even though they fell short of the 60 needed to cut off filibusters, the Democrats are aiming to keep their majority as large as possible next year when, for the first time since 1994, they have control of Congress and the White House. Two other Senate seats, in Minnesota and Georgia, have yet to be decided.

Democrats voted 42-13 to let Lieberman stay at the helm of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs while removing him from the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he led a subcommittee.

The formal resolution before the Democrats, considered in what was described as an emotional meeting in the Old Senate Chamber of the Capitol, also declared that the Democratic caucus "rejects and disapproves of Sen. Lieberman's statements against Sen. Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign."

Lawmakers who attended the session said Lieberman discussed the political and personal hurt he experienced when many of his colleagues campaigned against him after he lost a Democratic Senate primary in 2006 before winning re-election as an independent.

After the vote, he expressed some remorse for his campaign comments but noted the resolution did not chastise him directly for backing McCain, who returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to resume life as a senator.

Lieberman, who eight years ago was the party's nominee for vice president, said there were statements he could have made "more clearly. And there are some that I made that I wish I had not made at all. And now it's time to move on."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who aligns with Democrats, said allowing Lieberman to run the homeland-security committee was a "slap in the face" to Americans who "worked day and night to get Barack Obama elected and to move our country in a very new direction."

Despite a second round of Republican losses, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was returned as Republican leader.

Senate Republicans also easily disposed of a call by Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina to impose term limits on the Republican leader and members of the Appropriations Committee, overwhelmingly rejecting the proposals.

In related developments:

McCain PAC: McCain, 72, is setting up a political-action committee (PAC) as a first step in running for a fifth term in the Senate. A McCain spokesman said he decided late Tuesday to set up the fundraising PAC. McCain's current term ends in 2010.

Health role? Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who has announced plans to craft sweeping health-care legislation next year, asked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to head a working group focused on insurance coverage. Clinton gave no immediate response.

Information from The Associated Press, the Anchorage Daily News

and the Los Angeles Times

is included in this report.