Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Alaskans Give Stevens Hero's Welcome

After corruption conviction, GOP senator begins 5-day marathon reelection bid

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted Oct 30, 2008 11:45 AM CDT

(Newser) – Sen. Ted Stevens returned home to Alaska to jump-start his reelection campaign yesterday, proclaiming his innocence and asking for the votes of 500 supporters at a rally. “Like most people, I'm not perfect,” said the 84-year-old Republican, who plans to appeal his conviction on federal corruption charges, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

“We trust you,” chanted the crowd—some sporting “F*#@ the feds, vote for Ted” T-shirts—at the airport named for Stevens, who nevertheless faces quite a challenge: A new poll indicates he fell 8% behind his opponent after the felony convictions. “My future is in God’s hands. Alaska’s future is in your hands,” he said at the rally, his first stop in a 5-day campaigning frenzy.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Ted Stevens speaks at a rally to welcome the Alaska senator home yesterday. (AP Photo)

The crowd shouted, "We trust you," as Sen. Stevens spoke at the Anchorage airport named for him. (AP Photo)

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is running for Stevens' seat and will debate him tonight. (AP Photo /Al Grillo)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Anyone who thinks you can get a fair trial in the heart of liberalism, Washington DC, is smoking dope.
- Mark Kelliher, a retired engineer at Stevens rally

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

No Definitive Cause in Stevens' Alaska Plane Crash

Limited information on events of crash has NTSB stumped

(AP) - No definitive cause can be determined for the plane crash that killed former US Sen. Ted Stevens and four others last summer in Alaska, the National Transportation Safety Board said today. The board agreed at a hearing in Washington that "temporary unresponsiveness" of the pilot could be to blame, but the reasons can't be determined. There was no flight data or cockpit voice recorders on board—on a plane officials described as otherwise outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment. The front-seat passenger, one of the teenage passengers who survived, was said to be asleep at the time of the crash. More»

Alaska Editor Handcuffed by Joe Miller's Guards

Tea party candidate's security cuffs journo for 'trespassing' at town hall event

(NEWSER) - An Alaska editor was "arrested" and handcuffed by bodyguards of Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller as the journalist attempted to ask Miller questions following a public event. Tony Hopfinger of the Alaska Dispatch was cuffed and held by the guards in the hallway of a public middle school where the event occurred. The editor was finally released after Anchorage cops ordered the guards to do so. The guards claimed Hopfinger had "trespassed" on the town hall meeting at the school organized by the Miller campaign and that he "shoved" one of the guards. More»

Murkowski Airs Ted Stevens Endorsement

Campaign ad was filmed just days before he died

(NEWSER) - Not sure Joe Miller is going to be able to top this one: In the waning days of her hotly contested and bizarre Senate race, Lisa Murkowski has pulled out an endorsement from Alaskan political heavyweight and dead man Ted Stevens, reports the Anchorage Daily News. Filmed just days before his death in a plane crash, Stevens proclaims, "We need Lisa and the seniority she's earned now more than ever." More»

The Horrific Scene of the Stevens Crash

Survivors lay in mangled wreckage as chilled rain fell

(NEWSER) - When Ted Stevens and his companions left their lodge, they thought they were headed for a quick trip to a salmon fishing camp. When they hadn’t arrived hours later, the lodge sent out search planes, who quickly found a horrific scene, the AP reports. The nose of the plane was gone, fuel slicked over the ground, the bodies of some—including Stevens—mangled in the fuselage. It was raining hard, and the survivors were freezing. Now, authorities are studying that rain, and the gusty wind that accompanied it, to see if it caused the crash. More»

Ex-NASA Chief, Son Survive Plane Crash

Sean O'Keefe among survivors of crash that killed Stevens

(AP) - Former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe survived the plane crash in Alaska that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens, an ex-NASA spokesman says. O'Keefe's teenage son, Kevin, also was among the four survivors. The plane crashed Monday night near a remote fishing village in Alaska, killing five. The former spokesman for the space agency says he has talked to O'Keefe's family. They told him that O'Keefe and his son had some broken bones and other injuries. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Alaskans Give Stevens Hero's Welcome