The nation’s coldest state continues to be one of the hottest political locations, a full two weeks after the election.

Republican Senator Ted Stevens, who has among his nicknames ‘Uncle Ted’ and ‘Senator for Life’, is trailing Democrat Mark Begich by 1,022 votes with about 24,000 left to count today.

Many Alaskans voted for Stevens despite the fact he was recently convicted of seven felony counts for failing to disclose gifts from a political ally.

Stevens is a hard man to get to know… unless you’re an Alaskan. I’ve tried to interview him several times over the years, but his spokesman routinely turns down the requests. Stevens has been very defensive over complaints that his infamous “bridge to nowhere” and other pork barrel projects are a waste of taxpayer dollars. Since he fought for Alaska statehood he’s viewed his role as bringing the Last Frontier state up to standard.

But now with his legal problems, it may be the end of the road. He’s obviously weary telling reporters in Washington D.C. that he “hasn’t had a night’s sleep in almost four months”. Even as he sweats the vote count, his Republican colleagues are set to vote Thursday on whether to strip him of his committee assignments. They decided to postpone until after his election is decided, because if he loses to Begich it’s a moot point.

With sentencing on his felony convictions most likely in December or January it’s hard to imagine this working out well for Stevens.

Oh and by the way, Anchorage is set to have a high temperature of 17 degrees today.