newsminer.com

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Ted Stevens is facing his staunchest opponent in decades, and that's not even his biggest challenge ahead of the November election.

He has less than a month to convince a jury in Washington, D.C., that he's not guilty of federal crimes. Whatever the outcome, and he's still on the ballot if he's convicted, he then has to persuade Alaska voters that he's worthy of another six years in the U.S. Senate.

He's spending most of his time sitting in E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse while Democratic challenger Mark Begich has the campaign trail to himself.

Stevens, 84, is accused of lying on Senate forms about receiving more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from Bill Allen's old firm, VECO Corp.

This has turned Stevens into a telecommuting candidate while Begich spent this week traveling around the nation's largest state, including campaign stops in the state's far-flung regions only accessible by plane or boat.

Almost nightly after the trial, taking advantage of the four-hour time difference, Stevens reaches out from Washington to Alaska voters, sometimes using the Internet, a technology he once described as a "series of tubes," to conduct telephonic town hall to reach thousands of backers at once.

The Senate's longest-serving Republican implores supporters to remind others how indispensable his 40 years of service is to the state while he defends charges of lying in financial disclosure forms.

"There is no question a newcomer couldn't do what I'm doing now for five to 10 years," Stevens told The Associated Press. "This is no time to change the guy who has been sent down here to do this job."

This week, he had to participate in an AARP forum in Anchorage by videoconference.

Stevens is also relying on the help of some high-powered friends to campaign for him while he's stuck in Washington, including close friend Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who appeared with Stevens in Alaska and was the defense's first witness at Steven's trial Thursday.

Instead of Stevens, well-known Alaska Republicans are the public face of his campaign - like former state Sen. John Binkley, who is doing television ads, and former Alaska House Speaker Gail Phillips, who is heading the campaign steering committee.

"We have to carry on here to help him until he gets back," said Phillips.

Other faces aren't as well known. Featured in one Stevens' television commercial is Rosalie Lincoln, an Alaska Native who appears in with two others from Toksook Bay, a village along the Bering Sea. They credit Stevens for helping save the village thousands on fuel costs because of windmills he helped secure.

"This is a young town, which was established in 1964, and now it's got running water and electricity, making it a lot easier for our living," Lincoln told The Associated Press.

Begich, the popular Democratic mayor of Anchorage, says it doesn't matter if Stevens is campaigning from Washington or is in Alaska.

His campaign strategy was established long before Stevens was indicted, and it's not going to change. Begich is personally taking his message of change to voters throughout the state.

"It's not about capitalizing on his challenges. I want to offer them new, independent, ethical leadership and moving Alaska forward," said Begich, who spent the week logging a few thousand miles on the stump.

Until Monday, it wasn't just the trial keeping Stevens from campaigning; it was also the prolonged battle over a bailout bill that kept him working nights and weekends.

Even though Congress is now adjourned until mid-November, it could still be another two weeks before Stevens learns the jury's fate, leaving him with only days in the state before the Nov. 4 election to fend off Begich.

Both Begich and Stevens are touting their strengths in their own ads, the attacks are left to outside influences.

The Republican Party of Alaska is spending $10,000 to defend Stevens and attack Begich.

"We are focused to make sure he runs a competitive campaign and wins," said Pierre, whose group paid $10,000 to print fliers saying Begich would simply be a small voice for the party, not the state.

While the state GOP party is footing that bill, Stevens is not getting any help from the better-financed Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

It's a different story for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which so far has spent more than $700,000 on ads attacking Stevens as a man no longer out to help the state, but instead assists himself and family members.

The television ads end with the tag line, "It's not about Alaska anymore" and accuse Stevens of getting federal funds for various industries, such as fishing, money that ultimately worked its way back to family members such as son, Ben.

It's a veiled reference to an ongoing federal investigation of a $30 million federal earmark Stevens used to create the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, which provided federal money to promote Alaska seafood. Ben Stevens was the board's first chairman and approved grants to companies including those paying him consulting fees, state financial disclosure reports show.

Neither Ben nor Ted Stevens have been charged.

"The ads make clear Ted Stevens is not the same person he used to be and doesn't work for Alaska the way he used to," said the group's spokesman, Matt Miller. "He's funneled millions of dollars into the pockets of his friends and members of his family."

Campaigns have been known to distance themselves from ads produced by their own political parties, but by law they cannot coordinate advertising strategies with the parties.

If the campaigns believe the ads are hurting their prospects, they would publicly denounce the ads, but that's extremely rare. Neither the Begich campaign nor the Stevens camp have spoken out about their outside help.

"They are running those ads and they are accountable for those ads," Begich said. "I'm focusing on what I want to do. It's the same thing about negative ads people want to put out against me."

Stevens said he's not concerned about the ads.

"They can spend $1 million or $2 million what ever they want to spend," he said. "But they don't have really the contact with the people that I've got."