Anchorage Daily News

Ted Stevens, under indictment and running for his political life, seemed in a solemn mood. Justice Department prosecutors had just made public a series of new claims against him as he campaigns for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

"History takes care of itself," Stevens said in an interview last week, as he reflected on what all this could mean for his legacy. "Others will judge what I've done and what I may have done they don't like.

"I like to read history, but it's not my thing to write it. I don't keep diaries, I don't do all that. That's probably one of my problems now, that I don't keep diaries," Stevens said.

Stevens, the 84-year-old U.S. senator who has shaped modern Alaska history more than anyone, faces voters on Tuesday for the first time since his indictment on federal felony charges of failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts. Stevens has six challengers in Tuesday's Republican primary, including former state legislator Dave Cuddy and Vic Vickers, a recent Florida transplant who has vowed to spend a million dollars of his own money on the race.

Polls indicate Stevens, who says he is innocent, goes into Tuesday's election maintaining heavy support among Alaska Republican primary voters. His challengers suggest otherwise and argue that, even if he can win the primary, Democrat Mark Begich will beat him in the November general election. The primary is open to registered Republicans and those not registered with any party.

"It is an election like no other. The Republican Party is in just a huge disarray right now," said Stevens Republican opponent Cuddy. "The corruption investigations have caused people just to rethink what they're going to be doing. I think the vast majority of voters today don't know how they're going to vote."

"VERY, VERY CONSERVATIVE"

Cuddy walked around downtown Anchorage on a recent sunny morning, popping into businesses and introducing himself. A gift shop owner shooed him away, saying she had customers to tend, and shoeshine man "Ziggy" Zeigler gave him an earful. But Charlie McAlpine, a longtime Anchorage businessman, recognized Cuddy with a greeting when he walked in McAlpine's art gallery and coffee shop.

McAlpine, who isn't backing a candidate at this point, said later he thinks the charges against Stevens are phony. But he still thinks this year might be the end of the road.

"I feel a huge debt to Sen. Stevens, but he might not be a viable candidate this time around," McAlpine said.

Cuddy, he said, is a viable candidate, an affable guy, and "very, very conservative."

Cuddy has the most Alaska political history of any of the candidates running against Stevens. He's the scion of a prominent local banking family, former president of First National Bank of Anchorage, and a former state legislator. Cuddy's campaign materials declare that he's "the only Republican who can win in November ... and live to carry on the fight against the liberals in Washington."

Cuddy said he's spent about $650,000 of his own money on the race. More than 90 percent of his campaign is self-financed, he said. He's a land developer and has a small Texas film studio, Studio Estates, that produces B movies.

Cuddy said he's maintained his home in Alaska but, as a result of time spent out of state, hasn't received a Permanent Fund Dividend check since 2003 and won't be getting one this year either.

"I've got a lot of business interests in Texas, Florida, I spent a little time working for a company in California and I've been a long-distance commuter," Cuddy said.

"TAKE BACK ALASKA"

The other Stevens opponent who is making some noise, Vickers, moved to Alaska in January and has never been eligible for a dividend. Vickers said he hitchhiked to the state in 1970 and has been coming back almost every summer since.

Vickers' ads ask people to help him to "take back Alaska." He said he is no carpetbagger, a charge made by the Stevens campaign and in letters to the editor.

"I think as people have got to know me in the campaign they know that's not true. And the interesting thing about all that is the Justice Department has now filed a motion ... they said there's no legitimate doubt that Ted Stevens lives full time in Washington, D.C. I live full time in Anchorage," Vickers said earlier this week.

Vickers' campaign ads are everywhere, from the sides of buses to television spots, where a voiceover declares that "Vic Vickers Will Stop the Corruption!"

Vickers, a lawyer and former bank regulator who has a Florida-based maritime company, said his campaign is on track and he's going to beat Stevens.

Vickers said his money to run for office comes from "an accumulation of wealth that I've developed over 38 years." He said he owns real estate in Florida, Arizona and Utah, as well as his home in Anchorage. He said he has a controlling interest in the Florida maritime firm of Eller and Co. Public records list him as a director of the firm. He claims to have founded 60 banks and financial institutions in Florida decades ago, many of which he sold.

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO CALL?

So what does Stevens think of Vickers?

"Not much," he said.

Stevens wouldn't discuss the charges against him, saying that's the job of his lawyers. He wouldn't say how he's been paying for those lawyers, but said he expects to set up a legal defense fund, whose donors will have to be disclosed under the law, similar to Alaska Rep. Don Young, who is also under federal investigation.

Stevens is tentatively scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 24, before the November general election. He said he'll be vindicated.

Stevens said he's tried his best to respond to any Alaskan who has asked him for help, and now is asking Alaskans to help him. He said people ought to consider which candidate they'd want to call as their U.S. senator for help with the federal government, or if they found themselves in trouble somewhere in the world.

"Would you call Vickers? Would you call Begich? Would you call the very nice gentleman from North Pole, who is a preacher? Or would you call me?" Stevens said. "Ninety percent of Alaskans would call me. The question is who would they vote for."

A new series of Stevens commercials plays on that theme. "Without Ted, we're toast," they say.

OTHER CANDIDATES

One of Stevens' Republican primary opponents is Rick Sikma of North Pole, a pastor who is taking a leave of absence to run on an ethics platform. The other candidates who are running against Stevens in Tuesday's Republican primary are:

• Michael Corey, an Anchorage attorney who said he entered the race for experience but stayed in to provide the alternative of a new conservative course.

• Jerry Heikes, a Palmer carpenter/drywall worker who is running on a resource development platform.

• Rich Wanda of Anchorage, who did not respond to a Daily News request for information and does not appear to have a campaign Web site.

Read Sean Cockerham on our Alaska Politics blog at adn.com/alaskapolitics, or call him at 257-4344.

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