Sarah Plain’s chance to go to the US Senate depends on the victory of current Senator Stevens. And his chances of winning another term are growing slimmer day by day.

The latest count shows Begich with 138,959 votes and Stevens with 137,937, a lead of  1,022.  Begich was down by 3,000 or so votes at the beginning of the month, so that is a turn around of over 4000 votes And the votes left to be counted come from the mostly Democratic areas of Alaska.

The way the law reads in Alaska, there could be a recount even after all the ballots are counted and winner declared.  It says that the loser can request a re count if the winning margin is less than 5%.  If that happens, we may not know the eventual winner until the new Congress is seated.

Sarah Palin needs Stevens to win and then be expelled by his fellow Senators.  Then she would have to resign as Governor, be appointed to take his place and run in a special election within three months time.  The last time we took a look at this issue, there was a much better chance of this happening.

Dose she want it ?  The answer is yes, if you look at what she has been doing this past week.  She is not back in Alaska, getting back to the job of Governor.  She has been out giving interviews, trying to offset the negative impressions left over from the Presidential campaign. Unfortunately for her, she did not do much to show that she does have a handle on and an opinion of national issues.  For instance, when she was asked about a by out for the auto industry, she did just what she did during the campaign.  Skirted the issue and spouted parables.

If she wants to become a big player on the national scene, she needs to be able to answer questions as fast as they are asked.  In retrospect, this might not be a good time for her to dash for national office.  Maybe if she takes a couple of years, until the next Senate election when Alaska’s other Senator, Lisa Murkowski, is up for re election.

One thing she has said that may help her with the way the American public views her is the fact that she is willing to work with President Obama if he should ask for her help on things like the energy crisis.  This would bring her into the national spotlight in a positive way.  It would show her as a politician who is willing to put the needs of the country first by working with someone who, to say the least, is diametrically opposed to most of her positions.