In an article published Friday, the Anchorage Daily News' Sean Cockerham takes a look at Sen. Ted Stevens' prospects for making up ground in his re-election and concludes that they're not good.
"More than half the absentee and questioned ballots still to be counted in Alaska's U.S. Senate race come from areas of the state that backed Democrat Mark Begich on Election Day," Cockerham writes. "That's not a good sign for Republican Sen. Ted Stevens as he seeks to overcome Begich's 814-vote lead when counting resumes today of just over 41,000 remaining ballots. A Daily News analysis, based on data provided by the state Division of Elections, shows that 56 percent of those ballots come from districts that favored Begich on Nov. 4."
In a somewhat related story, the Washington Post's Paul Kane looks at the Democrats' chances to get to the magical number of 60 votes in the Senate, at which point they'd have a filibuster-proof majority. Frankly, those chances are slim -- in order for that to happen, Begich will have to beat Stevens, a recount in Minnesota will have to conclude that Al Franken beat Sen. Norm Coleman there and Democrat Jim Martin will have to prevail over Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a run-off. Plus, Senate Democrats would have to keep Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman in the caucus.
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