Down the Tubes

The Senate is arguably the world's most exclusive club, but it is not immune to scandals and setbacks. Senator Ted Stevens (R - Alaska) might be in trouble.

Sure, you know him better as the guy who called the internet "a series of tubes," but Alaska knows him as "our Senator who got raided by the FBI and the IRS yesterday." The trouble seems to stem from a large-scale investigation underway about oil contracts and bribes and legislators, oh my.

For more details on the scandal, you can check out Chris Cillizza's rundown at The Fix. Cillizza also mentions some surprising recent polls from Alaska, in which Alaskan Republican primary voters are leaning pretty hard against sending Stevens back to Washington.

Also at The Washington Post, Paul Kane says he thinks this sort of thing will give a shot in the arm to the movement towards legislating ethics reform, specifically in regards to a bill sent from the House to the Senate today. It seems likely that the reform bill will do okay in the Senate, as increasing disclosure on the part of lawmakers is a popular thing to get behind these days.

Forbes has a timeline of the whole affair, if you're into those. As the polls from Alaska show, even staunch Republicans are not immune to the effects of the Republican Party's malfeasance and problems, national and otherwise.