Stevens has six Republican primary challengers, none of them as strong as Sean Parnell’s challenge to Don Young. The most serious challengers are Dave Cuddy, a developer and former state representative who spent $1.5 million to lose to Stevens in the 1996 GOP primary, and attorney Vic Vickers, who is up with ads now. The last poll I saw had Stevens up 15 points over Cuddy, though that was late June and this development may change things. The Democrats have recruited a strong candidate in Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, who has led Stevens in several polls. The latest poll shows a statistical tie, with Begich at 47 percent to Stevens’s 45 percent.
