Sen. Stevens' indictment ups bleak Republican prospects

Sen. Stevens' indictment ups bleak Republican prospects

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
Published July 30, 2008
WASHINGTON — The indictment of a Republican senator on charges that he lied about accepting gifts from an oil contractor only adds to his party's already bleak electoral prospects in November, and not simply because it could cost the Republicans a Senate seat that should be safe.
While Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska has vowed to fight charges and, through a spokesman, to move "full steam ahead" with his re-election bid, he has received little support from Alaska's Republican governor and no comment yet from his own party's leader in the Capitol.
His indictment, though, could knock Republicans off message just as party leaders hoped to gain traction on one of the few issues in which voters solidly side with them: producing more domestic oil.

Stevens is the single most prominent advocate of oil drilling in protected areas, and charges that he took more than a quarter-million dollars worth of unreported gifts from oil services contractor Veco Corp. and its executives will play right into Democratic efforts to paint Republicans as a party captive to Big Oil.

Stevens, 84, the first sitting U.S. senator to face federal indictment since 1993, declared Tuesday, "I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that."

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