McCain-Palin Call on Stevens to Resign; McConnell Refuses to Take Position

LOUISVILLE - Republican Party standard-bearers Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) today on Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) to step down from the Senate after the longtime Alaska senator was convicted on seven felony counts. Despite both the Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates calling for Stevens to step down, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, refuses to call for him to resign.

"John McCain gets it and Alaska's own Sarah Palin gets it - the American people are sickened by this sort of blatant corruption," said Cary Stemle, spokesman for the Lunsford campaign. "Kentucky and the nation deserve to know whether Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, agrees with his party's nominees for President and Vice President. Should Sen. Ted Stevens, who has been convicted on seven felony counts, resign from the Senate? The answer should be easy. But McConnell doesn't get it. By siding with Sen. Stevens and refusing to take a position on the issue, Mitch McConnell has shown once again that he is more interested in protecting the culture of corruption he has fostered in Washington than the American people. It's time for a change."