Mark Begich has overtaken Ted Stevens in the balloting, as early votes and absentee votes are being counted. He lead at the end of yesterday by THREE -- count them, one two three -- votes. He now has a "comfortable" lead in the three digits. Unless there's something about the ballot that were just counted that makes them different from those yet to be counted (Anchorage goes first?), this strikes me as an irreversible trend in the direction of Begich. Mark Begich wins. Ted Stevens loses. The other permetation comes with Sarah Palin having started to send out feelers suggesting she might just pursue the Ted Stevens seat after Stevens is kicked out of the Senate (right now it's the basis of a leadership fight within the Republican Party with Jim DeMint challenging Mitch McConnell to have the vote to kick him out of the Republican Caucus). But, this prospect of "Senator Palin" is moot with the apparent Stevens loss. The other two Senate seats not decided: Al Franken versus Norm Coleman in Minnesota and the run-off between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin in Georgia. I suspect that that 3 digit lead will be overtaken by Franken in Minnesota in the re-count as the "Intent of the Voter" is guaged by such voters that circled where they should have squared or squared where they should have circled. I also can say that Republicans will forever believe Franken stole that election in the dead of several nights and the election result is illegitimate. This is just as well, because they already believe Al Franken was an illegitimate Senate Candidate in the first place.