When the situation called for some heavy lifting in the Senate in years past, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) would don an "Incredible Hulk" tie, letting Senators, staffers and reporters know that he would sweep aside anyone in his way on a particular issue.
Stevens may need more than that these days, as he trails by over a thousand votes in his re-election race, and today he faces a move to boot him from the Senate Republican Conference.
Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina wants Stevens ousted because of the Alaska Republican's conviction on seven felony corruption counts back in October.
Since Senators are almost always a bit wary of actually punishing one of their colleagues (see my blog today about Joe Lieberman) it would be surprising to see DeMint win this fight, especially since Stevens probably believes he could leg whip DeMint down the marble stairs in a flash.
GOP Senators though may move to strip Stevens of his committee assignments. That might not mean very much with only a few days of a lame duck session ahead.
If Stevens was to somehow win re-election, I would bet the Senate wouldn't seat him in early January. But I think both parties will be spared that Profile in Courage.
It will be interesting to see if we get a glimpse of the Angry Sen. Stevens today, or one who realizes that his ninth political life may be up for celestial review.
I would love to be inside that GOP meeting to see what really happens. One thing that I've learned is that Senators in both parties are really good at coming out and speaking to the press, but not giving up many details at all.
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