Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wants Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) to resign his seat:

Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) called on Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska ) Thursday to step down from his seat and run in a special election in the wake of the Justice Department’s decision to drop corruption charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Begich narrowly defeated Stevens in 2008, a contest overshadowed by Stevens’ October conviction.

Palin’s call came after a reporter at the Fairbanks News Miner emailed her a copy of a statement by Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich calling for Begich to step down.

Asked for her response, Palin simply wrote back: “I absolutely agree.”

When the reporter wrote back to confirm that Palin meant she’d like to see Begich resign in order to hold a special election, the governor responded: “Yes.”

RedState, a Republican blog, asked readers from Alaska not to vote for Ted Stevens and US Rep. Don Young, both Republicans, because they "have been a pox on the Republican house for too long - too addicted to the pork barrel, too fast and loose with ethics." Admittedly, the conviction against Stevens was the final straw for them. Nevertheless, Stevens addiction to pork was the ire of many fiscal conservatives. Stevens has the dishonor of being named Porker of the Month on three occasions by the Citizens Against Government Waste.

When the Bridge to Nowhere, which Sarah Palin supported, was targeted by conservatives in the Senate, Stevens said, "I will put the Senate on notice -- and I don't kid people -- if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state and take money only from our state, I will resign from this body."

I think Jon Henke has a point:

A lot of people wonder who the next leaders of the Republican Party should be. I don’t know. But you know who it shouldn’t be? Anybody who thinks the current elected Senator from Alaska should resign so that the corrupt former Senator Ted Stevens can be brought back to the Senate.

H/T: Below the Beltway