The Senator with Oil On His Hands

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

Photo: stevens.senate.gov

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In the long-running career of the longest serving Republican U.S. Senator, it has not been national news when he files for re-election.

But, this year is different, since Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is under investigation for alleged dirty dealings with oil interests in his state.

Stevens, besides being the originator of the famous formulation about the Internet ("it's a series of tubes") and the man behind the pork that brought "the bridge to nowhere" into existence, he has been accused of being involved with an oil services bribery scheme that infected far reaches of government in Alaska.

Alaska is a state with an incestuous relationship with oil, seeing as how its unparalleled wild spaces yield enough oil revenue to keep taxpayers from being, well, taxpayers, at least where incomes taxes are concerned.

Stevens is a powerful and, in his state, popular senator. Voters will decide whether his time has come.

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