GOP Ticket Agrees: Stevens Must Go

Nonetheless, Alaska senators plans appeal of last week's verdict in DC

(NEWSER) - Ted Stevens said he had “not been convicted of anything,” during a debate last night with the Democratic challenger to his Alaska Senate seat, Politico reports—despite being convicted Monday on corruption charges. The 84-year old Republican alleges prosecutorial misconduct and plans an appeal, though top GOP figures—including John McCain and Sarah Palin—have called for his resignation. More»

(NEWSER) - After 5 hours of deliberations, a federal jury found Ted Stevens guilty today on all seven corruption counts against him. Coming just before Election Day, the felony convictions cloud the political future of the 84-year-old Republican, who has represented Alaska in the Senate since 1968. As the foreman read the verdict, Stevens slumped slightly, the Anchorage Daily News reports. He later told his wife, "It's not over yet." More»

And Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin is still pretty scary: reactions

(NEWSER) - If you thought Julianne Moore's Sarah Palin was terrifying in the first Game Change teaser , wait until you see her in the full trailer, where she utters lines such as, "We have to win this thing. I so don’t want to go back to Alaska." Watch below, then read on for some reactions:

• This will clearly be "a Frankenstein-esque story about McCain’s staffers coming to regret the choice they made in bringing a little-known governor into the limelight," writes Jon Bershad at Mediaite . "The full trailer ... gives us even more famous actors getting their turn to stare in horror at the 'monster' they’ve created."

HBO debuts first teaser

(NEWSER) - For all of you who have spent the past nine months wondering how Julianne Moore’s Sarah Palin impersonation will stack up against Tina Fey’s , you finally have your answer. HBO debuted its first teaser trailer for Game Change, the film due in March that's based on the Mark Halperin-John Heilemann book about the 2008 presidential election. Neither Ed Harris as John McCain nor Woody Harrelson as top adviser Steve Schmidt sound much like their real-life counterparts, notes David Jackson in USA Today , but Moore’s Palin is spot-on: Numerous publications including People , New York , the Huffington Post , and Jezebel are fairly impressed. More»

Then-gov considered media titan to succeed Obama as senator

(NEWSER) - As Rod Blagojevich considered possible successors to Barack Obama as US senator from Illinois, he came up with one name "no one can assail": Oprah Winfrey. As the former governor's corruption trial dragged on today in Chicago, prosecutors played a tape from December 2008—after Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett had withdrawn, the Tribune reports , costing Blago what he perceived as leverage with the president-elect—of Blagojevich and an aide tossing around names. More»