PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: More trouble for Ted Stevens:

The 83-year-old senator is under scrutiny in a far-reaching Alaska corruption investigation. The FBI has been looking into whether Stevens received illegal gifts from a once powerful energy contractor, Veco Corp. Last week, a former Alaska House speaker was convicted of taking bribes from the same company. And during that former legislator’s trial, bruising details of the bribery scandal—which has engulfed several former state lawmakers, including Stevens’s son—have come to light.

Chipping away. No charges have been filed against Stevens or his son, and the senator maintains his innocence, as does his son, Ben Stevens. But the recent revelations appear to be chipping away at the elder Stevens’s support base. GOP Gov. Sarah Palin has called on Stevens to explain himself, and one independent poll taken this summer showed that 44 percent of voters in Anchorage had a negative view of the senator.

Stevens should retire now. But I doubt that he will.