newsminer.com

The split between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and the Alaska Republican Party extends to conflicting positions on whether Sen. Ted Stevens should resign in the wake of his felony convictions.

Following the lead of Sen. John McCain, who said Stevens should quit, Palin said this today in an interview on CNBC:

"He needs to do the right thing, and the right thing is, as he's proclaiming his innocence and proclaiming, too, that he will go through the appellate process, OK, then he needs to step aside and allow our state to elect someone who will be supportive of those ideals of America: the free enterprise, the missions that we're on, to win the war, those things that have got to take place in order to progress this country. Ted Stevens has got to play a very statesmanlike role in this now."

Later, she said that even if he wins, Stevens should resign, which would prompt a special election.

"Alaskans are grateful for his decades of public service, but the time has come for him to step aside. Even if elected on Tuesday, Sen. Stevens should step aside to allow a special election to give Alaskans a real choice of who will serve them in Congress."

Meanwhile, the Alaska GOP released a statement that puts the party machinery directly at odds with the position of the GOP and Alaska's governor.

"The Alaska Republican Party is encouraging its members to vote for Sen. Ted Stevens in the November 4th general election. This is a critical vote for the future of Alaska, the United States Senate, and the people of the United States."

The Stevens campaign is taking the position that the decision on who represents Alaska should be made by Alaskans, not by "12 people who have never been to Alaska."

The problem for the Stevens campaign is that it is irrelevant whether the 12 jurors who convicted him of seven felonies have ever been to Alaska.

In U.S. history, four other sitting senators have been convicted of crimes, according to a story at www.politico.com. In three of those cases, the senators resigned, while the fourth died.

"If Stevens wins reelection, sources say he’ll be subjected to gradually increasing pressure to resign," the story said.

"The first step would be a behind-the-scenes campaign to urge Stevens to 'do the right thing' — even if it's not clear which Republican senator would have the nerve to deliver such a message to Stevens, an intimidating presence in the Senate and the most senior GOP member of the chamber."

"If informal pressure doesn't work, expulsion proceedings could commence in the Senate ethics committee, which would have to approve an expulsion resolution before it comes to the floor. If such a measure made it to the floor, a two-thirds majority would be needed for passage," the politico.com story said.