Republican Senator Stevens Guilty

Ted Stevens, the 84-year-old Republican Senator from Alaska, has been convicted on all seven counts of lying about free home renovations he received from a wealthy oil contractor.

More from The Associated Press :

Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count when he is sentenced Jan. 26, but under federal sentencing guidelines, he is likely to receive much less prison time, if any.

The monthlong trial revealed that employees for oil services company VECO Corp. transformed the senator's modest mountain cabin into a modern, two-story home with wraparound porches, a sauna and a wine cellar. Stevens never paid for VECO's work.

The Senate's longest-serving Republican, Stevens said he had no idea he was getting freebies. He said he paid $160,000 for the project and said he believed that covered everything.

Stevens asked for an unusually speedy trial, hoping he'd be exonerated in time to return to Alaska and win re-election. He kept his campaign going and gave no indication that he had a contingency plan in case of conviction.

Stevens' Democratic opponent Mark Begich has been leading in the polls for some time and this all but guarantees that Democrats will pick up this seat next Tuesday and add more to their Senate majority.

More here.