Fresh Loaf

For those still paying attention to the two undecided U.S. Senate races in other states, the NYT just gave word that the vote count outlook seems to be worsening for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. As of about an hour ago, election officials in the Frostbite State announced that the latest vote counts show challenger Mark Begich to be widening his lead:

Mr. Begich, the Democratic mayor of Anchorage, has pulled ahead of Mr. Stevens, the Republican incumbent, by 2,374 votes. Mr. Begich has 146,286 votes and Mr. Stevens, 143,912. But elections officials caution that there are still 7,700 additional absentee ballots to be counted today, so the numbers could change in a few hours.

Not that any of this much matters to Uncle Ted. He’s going off to prison. But the GOP wants to be able to keep his Senate seat in its column. Alaska, after all, is arguably the reddest state in the Union. It’s only had a handful of senators in its entire history of statehood. One died in office; another, Frank Murkowski, appointed his daughter to take his place after being elected governor. An Alaskan senator has never lost a general election, so it’s easy to see why the GOP wouldn’t want the Democrats to get their foot in the door.

If the Alaska Senate seat does go to Begich, Republicans will be that much more desperate to keep Saxby in place. Things are getting more interesting all the time…

Bookmark It

MARS DROUGHT DOWNGRADED: Scientists find and sample water from the Martian surface, and will spend the next several weeks studying whether it could support life.

TED STEVENS: Not giving up without a slow, creaky fight.

COLBERT: Offers a “rare apology” to Canton, Ga., for calling the town “crappy,” adding that he meant to call Canton, Kan., crappy: “How many Canton, Kan. residents does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None. They don’t use lights because they don’t want to see where they live.”

RUNOFF: Congressional Quarterly summarizes the uphill battle ahead of whoever wins Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff in the U.S. Senate race to unseat Saxby Chambliss.

316: Won’t toll for thee.

HEADLINE NUDES: Lavonia buys the town’s only strip club with $1 million of taxpayer money, closes it and burns down its billboards.

LINGERIE: Included, along with bras, garter belts and hosiery, among the items exempt from sales taxes in this weekend’s statewide tax holiday. WSB-TV makes the distinction, however, that only sexy lingerie is exempt:

UNEMPLOYMENT: U.S. rate hits a four-year high in July as employers cut 51,000 jobs. But who’s going to operate the giant computer-chip-gear machine that makes red lightning bolts?

Bookmark It

We’ve been having server problems at the massive Creative Loafing MSM complex. Angry bloggers cut our thingamajig cable and … goodbye to the Internets. Or else it was construction workers. Or terrorists.

But the hamsters are carrying our posts through the electronic tubes from remote locations. The usual errant missives should be arriving fast and furious throughout the day — now that I have my baton out and am flogging the writers.

Bookmark It