QUESTIONS:
1. Sen. Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska) has been in the news lately for controversy involving his chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Stevens has served in the Senate since 1968. What incumbent senators have served longer than Stevens?
2. As president pro tem of the Senate, Stevens is third in line to the presidency. What GOP senator last held this position before Stevens succeeded to it last year?
3. How many times was Stevens defeated for the Senate before acquiring his seat through appointment in 1968?
4. What other well-known Alaskan appointed Stevens to the Senate that year?
5. Excluding present Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Stevens is one of only two Republican senators from Alaska since it became a state in 1959. Can you name the other?
ANSWERS:
1. Democrats Robert Byrd (W.Va.), who was first elected in 1958, Edward Kennedy (Mass.), who was elected in 1962, and Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), who was elected in 1962.
2. Late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R.-S.C.).
3. Twice, in 1962, when he lost the general election for the Senate, and in 1968, when he was defeated in the Republican Senate primary.
4. Republican Gov. Walter J. Hickel, who later served as secretary of the interior, and won back the governorship as an independent in 1990.
5. Lisa's father, present Gov. Frank Murkowski, who was U.S. senator from 1980-2002.
