Sarah Palin’s in the news, everyone! For, let’s see here, lying. While most of her recent lies have been about covering up how that young man, Levi, this one is about how she told the media that she thought Sen. Mark Begich should resign so there can be a “fair” election between him and the very innocent Ted Stevens. The lie she’s telling, of course, is that she NEVER SAID THIS. MORE »

Ha ha wasn’t it funny how Ted Stevens probably could have won back his Senate seat in Alaska if he hadn’t been found guilty in his corruption trial, but then he was found guilty, and he lost, and then Eric Holder threw the case away yesterday because the prosecution had mishandled it? Cool story. And now the Republican party of Alaska has called for Sen. Mark Begich to resign so that he can run against Stevens in a special election, for fairness. Hmm let’s think about that NO. [Fox News]

• TED STEVENS IS FREE: Everyone’s favorite white-guilt-inducer, Attorney General Eric Holder, has decided to drop all charges against mean old Ted Stevens, because why not. The Justice Department prosecution team apparently didn’t present all the evidence it had, and it was mean to witnesses. They are all being investigated. ET CETERA. [NPR]

The clock is ticking! George Bush has just a few short hours to issue blanket retroactive/pre-emptive pardons for all of the criminal leather queens and torture fetishists in his administration. But what about the other crooks who would also like a pardon? MORE »

• Instead of fixing Florida’s terrible economy, Charlie Crist spent a quarter of a million dollars in sunny Madrid, including $1,300 on a minibar tab, presumably immediately preceding sex with his fiance, a known woman. [Andrew Sullivan]
• Mark Begich, who is from Alaska and is neither Trig nor Ted Stevens so why would you know who this is?, doesn’t want to send Stevens, whom he beat in last month’s Senate race, to jail. [TPMMuckraker]
• President Bush is thinkin all profound-like. “I’m just a simple President,” he tells Cynthia McFadden. [ABC News]
• The mystery of “Senate Candidate #5″ is like that of “Client-9″ but with fewer whore diamonds (because of the recession.) [Marc Ambinder]
• Fran Drescher, whom you might remember hating on teevee programs like The Nanny, would like Hillary Clinton’s old gig as a Senator. [CNN Political Ticker]

Ted Stevens is 85 years old and has served in the United States Senate since Reconstruction. He now has to leave, because he lost his latest re-election bid to some warm-blooded mammal from Anchorage. Join us as he delivers a stirring rendition of “Non, je ne regrette rien” before committing seppuku with a whale tusk. MORE »

UNCLE TED TO DELIVER HEARTBREAKING SWAN SONG: Ooooh this will be good! We hear that Ted Stevens will be giving his valedictory address to the Senate at 11am Eastern, so we will be liveblogging that. Get yourself a carton of caribou jerkey and we’ll see you back here in an hour. [Washington Post]

Ted Stevens didn’t have a chance at winning his Senate race — not after reports surfaced that the RNC had paid $150,000 for his elaborate pine-tar facials and wardrobe of decaying burlap sacks. Thanks to commenter “belmonttau” for the screenshot.

GOOD-BYE, TED STEVENS! “It’s official, and it’s a national tragedy: Ted Stevens has lost his Senate seat to some Democrat, in Alaska. Today, on his 85th birthday, the convicted felon and old white Republican Ted Stevens has been voted out of the office — voted out of office by Alaskans.” [AOL Political Machine]

• TED STEVENS EXPULSION POSTPONED: The Senate GOP Conference delayed a vote today on expelling Ted Stevens from their weird little club. They want to wait to see how the Alaska vote turns out! And, if you can even believe it, the MONSTROUSLY SLOW Alaska elections people are finally supposed to count the last major batch of ballots today. Mark Begich is ahead by 1,000-ish 2,374 votes and will probably win. But who knows? Sarah Palin could find some way to screw this up. [ADN]

• STEVENS WILL PROBABLY LOSE: A modicum of “reality” has been restored to Alaska, as it now looks like convicted felon Ted Stevens will lose his Senate seat to Democrat Mark Begich, whose popularity stems from being the candidate in the race who isn’t a convicted felon. Stevens’ own pollster is calling Begich’s victory a sure thing, as most of the remaining absentee and early ballots waiting to be counted will favor Democrats. We, however, are hesitant to go all in based on the logic of Alaskan voters. [HuffPo]