Begich Wins Alaska Senate Seat

Mark Begich's narrow victory over Ted Stevens in the Alaska Senate race is tremendous news for several reasons. It is the seventh Senate seat Democrats have picked up this year, besting the already tremendous 2006 cycle and guaranteeing at least 58 members of the Democratic Caucus, with Minnesota and Georgia still to be decided. It is also a seat Democrats should have had no business winning, considering how red Alaska is, and how long it has gone without a Democrat in its congressional delegation (1980). Mark Begich has the makings of a great senator, with the potential to hold this seat for some time, since he'll have all the advantages of incumbency come 2014.

That's the good news for Democrats. The good news for all Americans is that there will not be a convicted felon seated in our next Congress. And it also denies the opportunity, should Stevens have won reelection but then resigned or been expelled, for Sarah Palin to maneuver her way to Washington.

This is change we can believe in.