Down the ballot: Begich wins

ALASKA: Begich was declared the winner in Alaska’s Senate race after he “widened his lead to 3,724 votes in Tuesday's count of absentee and questioned ballots. The lead is insurmountable, as the only votes left to count are approximately 2,500 ballots from overseas,” the Anchorage Daily News reports. “Stevens could ask for a recount but his campaign would have to pay for it. The state pays if the margin is within .5 percent of the total votes cast. But Begich leads by just over 1 percent with more than 315,000 votes cast in the race.” The AP calls Stevens' defeat the "end of an era in which he held a commanding place in Alaska politics while wielding power on some of the most influential committees in Congress." DELAWARE: The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reported yesterday that “Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden will not accept an appointment to the Senate to replace his father, according to knowledgeable state sources, a decision that scrambles the race to replace the vice ... (link)