By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff

The indictment Tuesday of longtime Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens puts Republicans in serious jeopardy of losing his Senate seat to the Democrats this year.

The 84-year-old Stevens, the longest serving GOP senator in history, had been narrowly favored to win re-election. Stevens has a longstanding reputation in the state for bringing home much-needed federal funds, but Democrats strongly targeted him for defeat this year, due to ethics questions raised by the oil services company Veco Corporation scandal.

An indictment was viewed by many as a breaking point for Alaskan loyalty to the senator.

Stevens’ campaign issued a statement that the senator is very much in the race.

“Senator Stevens’ campaign for re-election is continuing to move full steam ahead,” campaign spokesman Aaron Saunders said in a written statement. “Our office has been flooded today with calls and e-mails from supporters urging the Senator to press on. The message from them is clear: Alaska needs Ted Stevens in the U.S. Senate.”

In the immediate aftermath of the indictment news, with no major GOP candidate on the Senate ticket other than Stevens, CQ Politics is changing its rating of the race from Leans Republican to Leans Democrat.

Democrat Mark Begich, mayor of Anchorage, was strongly recruited to run against Stevens and has already been actively campaigning. His name is well known in the state because of his father, late Democratic Rep. Nick Begich. The elder Begich won Alaska’s House seat in 1970, but was killed along with then-House Majority Leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana in 1972 when the campaign plane in which they were flying disappeared without a trace.

Begich leads the Democratic field which includes Ray Metcalfe, founder of the Alaska Republican Moderate Party. Begich expressed in a statement that “the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens is a sad day for Alaska and for the senator after his 40 years of service to our state,” and noted a desire to “move forward.”

Former Alaska Democratic chairman Jake Metcalfe, who ran but withdrew his campaign for the state’s lone House seat this year, told CQ Politics Tuesday that the situation definitely bodes well for his party. “I’m sure it puts Mark Begich in an even stronger position now,” Metcalfe said. “People in Alaska are really sick and tired of all the corruption that’s been going on.”

Options for the GOP

According to the director of the Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, Stevens’ name must remain on the Aug. 26 primary ballot because the deadline to withdraw has passed. Following the primary, state law permits any party nominee to withdraw his or her name at least 48 days before the general election. The party would then choose a replacement candidate, Fenumiai told CQ Politics.

University of Alaska at Fairbanks political scientist Jerry McBeath said offering a replacement would be a “last ditch effort” by the party. McBeath noted that he pool of potential replacement candidates is thin, and additionally, “It’s hard to find an Alaska political leader without any connections to Veco.”

McBeath noted that Republican Gov. Sarah Palin remains popular in the state, but she is facing her own controversy over her decision to fire the state’s public safety commissioner. State lawmakers Monday approved an investigation into whether the commissioner lost his job because he failed to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law, a state trooper who was involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin’s sister, according to news reports.