Posted July 31 :

David Cuddy, the more conservative of the two [challengers to Stevens], is now talked about as the favorite for the nomination. He described the Alaska Senate contest as a defining moment for the GOP. “This is a key race to figure out whether the Republicans really get it after our losses in 2006,” he told National Review Online. “Everybody looks at Ted Stevens as a poster-boy for overspending and raiding Social Security. If the national party continues to support him with the indictments, it will be a sign that no lesson was learned.”

A former state legislator and banker who challenged Stevens unsuccessfully in 1996, Cuddy describes himself as a pro-lifer and a libertarian-leaning conservative — not dissimilar to Ron Paul except for his more moderate approach to the Iraq war. “We have to stop acting as the world’s policeman, but we can’t just leave there overnight,” Cuddy said.