Politico has reported that Alaska Mayor has defeated Incumbent Senator Ted Stevens who was recently convicted of 7 felony charges. (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15754.html)
His margin of victory over the longest serving GOP senator is reported to be at 3,724 votes. This is likely to be way beyond the maximum threshold of 0.5% margin required for state-sponsored statwide recount.
Since we can assume that Lieberman will stay in the caucus due to the retention of his key committee, the senate now has 58 Democrats. We are now awaiting only 2 more races: Minnesota and Georgia which are both tough races for Democrats to win. If Democrats can snatch both seats away from Republicans, they get their filibuster-proof majority.
Rest assured, Begich will be the first US Democratic Senator from Alaska since Mike Gravel.
A similar New York Times can be accessed by clicking here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/us/politics/19cong.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink