STEVENS GUILTY!!!

Hello, everybody. When you pick up the papers here in Alaska first thing tomorrow morning, those two words above will be the banner headline, as U.S. Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty today on all seven counts of corruption charges.

But as he immediately stated, "I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have." And with the election now a week away, this could be one last chance to redeem himself as Democrat Mark Begich has been doing everything in his power to dethrone him. Speaking of which, he had something to say about the Stevens verdict: "This past year has been a difficult time for Alaskans, but our people are strong and resilient and I believe that we will be able to move forward together to address the critical challenges that face Alaska."

Don't expect Begich to break out the bubbly just yet, because Stevens may have enough energy in his 84-year-old body to be re-elected. But like I said almost three years ago when I commented about the no-confidence vote the Canadian Parliament had that forced then-Prime Minister Paul Martin to call an election for January 2006 (which led to the Conservative Party taking minor power), many Alaskans have had no confidence at all in Stevens and probably Don Young.

Sure, Ted Stevens may be found guilty and won't face any jail time, but the ultimate test for him will be next Tuesday when we and the rest of America head to the polls. And if Stevens does happen to win, it would take only a two-thirds vote by the Senate to throw him out and put Begich in. Maybe they could follow the beauty pageant rule that if for any reason the winner couldn't fulfill the duties during his or her reign, then the first runner-up takes the title.

Now with one week to go, Barack Obama and John McCain are at the final stretch. And now comes what appears to be very bad news for McCain: First, "The View's" Elisabeth Hasselbeck made some very scathing remarks on Sarah Michelle Palin's $150,000 wardrobe bill at a campaign rally in Florida. And secondly, believe it or not, the "Anchorage Daily News" has had enough of kissing Palin's ass and is endorsing Obama!!! The latter alone -- even though McCain will easily win Alaska -- could pretty much give Obama the edge.

Meanwhile, Obama rented out a prime spot in Chicago for what could be his victory (or concession) speech next Tuesday night: Grant Park, where events over the years ranging from visits by Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II among others have drawn upwards of 250,000 people. The election night rally may pack in 75,000, perhaps even more; can you say 100,000?

McCain will be home in Phoenix and the Biltmore Hotel where he may be given the last rites of his campaign. And Palin will be back home in Alaska; dunno if she'll be either in Anchorage or Juneau crossing her fingers.

Whichever way goes, one of those two men will be given the ultimate promotion after next Tuesday. So long and stay strong.

Live from New York, it's the real Sarah Palin!

Hello, everybody. Saturday's "Saturday Night Live" scored its highest ratings in 14 years when after weeks of ridicule by Tina Fey, Sarah Palin finally met her match. And believe it or not, she delivered!

But the big question: Will this mean a surge in the polls? Unlikely, as Barack Obama and Joe Biden maintains their lead over McCain/Palin with only two weeks to go. And thanks to a huge endorsement by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, there's a good opportunity that Obama's lead is going to widen a bit.

Of course, the magic number to clinch the presidency is 270 electoral votes, and according to the daily projected estimate by Electoral-vote.com, Obama may win by a huge margin with 364 to McCain's 167. Now the Conservative Party under Stephen Harper retained their minority power in Canada last week winning 143 seats (12 shy from the needed 155 for a majority government); if you multiply it times three, you get 286. Obama may reach that number by around the time the polls start to close on the West Coast especially in Democrat-heavy California, where the big 55 electoral votes are at stake.

Other states that are considered to be a cakewalk are New York (31), Pennsylvania (21), Barack's home state of Illinois (21), Michigan (17), New Jersey (15), Massachusetts (12), and Washington (11). Ohio and Florida, the two states that may seal the deal on whose moving truck will be arriving at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, are slowly but surely leaning Obama's way with 20 and 27 electoral votes respectively up for grabs. On the Republican side, you may have Texas (34) and McCain's home state of Arizona (10), but it may not be enough to grant him unlimited access to the White House.

But yes, I have been dreaming of an Obama victory speech at Millennium Park in Chicago, a McCain concession speech at some hotel in Phoenix, and Sarah Palin finally going back to work at the Governor's Office in Juneau. I am also dreaming of a changing of the guard on Capitol Hill as far as representing Alaska is concerned, as Mark Begich and Ethan Berkowitz have been out for Ted Stevens' and Don Young's blood. I'm expecting these two races to be too close to call, but in the end, Young and/or Stevens will no longer have a job in Washington.

Like I said, we still got two more weeks, and anything could happen before the first polls of the night close on November 4. I hope McCain doesn't take a page from Bob Dole's 1996 playbook and campaign non-stop for 96 hours straight; he would suddenly drop dead at the ripe old age of 892 (actually, 72)! So long and stay strong.

(By the way...if you're into the other Sarah (Michelle Gellar), I've created a hot musical tribute to her on YouTube)

Hello, everybody. A lot has been going down lately, so on with it as we begin with Wall Street in trouble.

Her hit song may be "Bleeding Love", but with the way things are going as of late, Leona Lewis may have to sing a new version: "Bleeding Cash." Despite the revised bailout bill finally being passed and signed into law last week, the Dow Jones have been going into the hole even further. On Monday, we got quite a scare as it fell below 800 points, but rebounded when it shot up below 300. And on Thursday, the bloodbath continued as the Dow dropped down 679 to close below 9,000 points for the first time in five years at 8,579.19.

In the last few weeks, we've seen generation-lasting financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers and AIG being thrown in the towel, while several banks are clinging on to dear life in order to survive. But that's not the case here in Alaska, as our banks like Wells Fargo, First National Bank Alaska, and Denali State Bank (mine) are doing very well.

The Permanent Fund Dividend has also felt the wrath, and that means it would be quite a while till we see another $2,000 payout from them anytime soon. In the next few years, expect the checks to hover around the $1,000-$1,500 mark.

Now, the dying economy has been the minds of Barack Obama and John McCain, as the elections are now a month away. But if you've been watching the debates lately, it seems that Obama has a much better game plan than McCain. And speaking of McCain...watching portions of the second debate when it was in a town hall format, he was wandering around the stage while Obama stood still. But the one person who had a really tough time at the end was moderator Tom Brokaw, who couldn't see the teleprompter as Obama and McCain blocked it. Also...did you notice that McCain bolted out of the building immediately afterwards while Obama continued to hobnob with the debate participants (the undecided voters who submitted questions to the candidates)?

Before that, we had the one and only Vice Presidential showdown between Joe Biden and Sarah Michelle Palin (I'll explain later), in which Biden was the clear winner while Palin once again provided more material for one Tina Fey.

But north of the border, there was a whole lot of channel surfing between that and the Canadian party leaders' debate that also happened last Thursday night between Stephen Harper and four other nobodies as their election is this coming Tuesday. And watching that on C-SPAN here in the States, it was more livelier than Palin-Biden as the five leaders and moderator Steve Paikin of TVO (TVOntario) were seated in a roundtable. I'm sure Bob Schieffer -- who'll moderate the third and final Obama-McCain debate next Wednesday, also roundtable style -- has been taking notes from that.

I was delving into some history on presidential debates like these, and did you know that there weren't any between 1960 (the first televised between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon) and 1976 (Gerald Ford-Jimmy Carter)? I wish they resumed in 1968, when the Vietnam War, just like our troubled economy, was the prime issue among voters in that election. Hubert Humphrey would've smoked Nixon on that one for sure!

However, one thing that is for sure: Within weeks of each other, we could be seeing winds of change with the Canadian elections on Tuesday and of course our big one on November 4. It is definitely North America's choice, so no matter what side of the border you're at, make sure you make the right one.

Right now, Sarah Palin is the most popular Sarah; but a couple weeks ago, one other Sarah was in the news as she may be making a return to TV sometime next year: Michelle Gellar!!!!

Yes, the four-time Sexiest Woman winner recently signed on star in the HBO series "The Wonderful Maladys"; she'll also be one of the executive producers. Now this comes as HBO is going through a rough time as Showtime -- with the help of "Inside The NFL" now on their outlet -- is slowly taking a chunk of their audience.

I have a feeling that Sarah Michelle's new show will get the green light, because she is still the one Sarah we'd still like to see on a weekly basis...not that other Sarah who's been hogging the spotlight during this election, and being in Alaska by the way, I'm getting sick of it!! With that said, so long and stay strong.