Fat Pension for Convicted Senator
BLITZER: Sarah Palin is now joining the growing calls for the resignation of Senator Ted Stevens. Yesterday, her running mate, John McCain, said Stevens should step down. And Barack Obama echoed that call today, as well. Palin made her comment during an interview on</s>CNBC. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY CNBC) GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And now he needs to do the right thing. And the right thing is, as he's proclaiming his innocence and proclaiming, too, that he will go through the appellate process, OK, then he needs to step aside and allow our state to elect someone who will be supportive of those ideals of American -- the free enterprise, the missions that we're on to win the war, those things that have got to take place in order to progress this country. Ted Stevens has got to play a very statesmanlike role in this now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've asked him to step down?</s>MCCAIN: He should, yes.</s>BLITZER: A federal jury found the Alaska senior senator guilty of hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free gifts, including renovation work on his home. Stevens insists he will not resign. If he wins his tough re-election race next week, he could face expulsion from the Senate. No matter what happens, Stevens' pension, though, is safe. Our Special Investigations Unit correspondent, Drew Griffin, is working this story for us -- Drew, tell us about the new ethics laws that go into effect and how, if at all, they would affect Senator Stevens.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: Yes, Wolf, you know, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act signed into law last year was supposed to stop convicted members of Congress from collecting Congressional pensions. But the law does not apply to this most recent Congressional felon.</s>GRIFFIN (voice-over): It passed with big fanfare last year -- part of the sweeping new ethics changes Democrats were promising in Congress.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Our first order of business is passing the toughest Congressional ethics reform in history.</s>GRIFFIN: But even then, the bill's author knew what had just passed was weak.</s>REP. NANCY BOYDA (D), KANSAS: It's not perfect, but it's a good first start.</s>GRIFFIN: Now we are finding out it wasn't much of a start at all. Senator Ted Stevens, convicted on seven counts of making false statements relating to hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from wealthy friends, will, according to the National Taxpayers Union, get a Congressional pension in an amount most of us can only dream of.</s>PETE SEPP, NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION: The wages of sin are pretty good in Congress. In senator Stevens' case, it's $122,000 a year to start. And it will keep going up with the cost of living after that.</s>GRIFFIN: It turns out Stevens never would have been affected by the new ethics bill. It was passed after he committed his crimes. But guess what -- even if he committed those same crimes today, the new ethics law couldn't touch him. Why? The law heralded by Congress only covers 10 specific felonies, including bribery, fraud and racketeering. In the case of Senator Stevens, lying about gifts from wealthy government contractors is not among them.</s>SEPP: They wanted to show the American people they were getting tough without actually doing it. The problem is, the very first test of this new law has been a failure.</s>GRIFFIN: Should Stevens retire and begin collecting his pension, he'll join at least 20 others who have been convicted and collected, including former Congressman Randall Duke Cunningham, guilty of accepting more than $2 million in bribes and collecting a Congressional pension of an estimated $64,000 a year; Congressman James Traficant, convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion, getting an estimated $40,000 a year; Dan Rostenkowski, former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, convicted of mail fraud and collecting an estimated $126,000 a year. Now, convicted Senator Ted Stevens, should he choose to retire, will collect annual pension estimated at $122,000 a year.</s>GRIFFIN: Wolf, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda, who pushed that law through the House, now says: "Officials who violate public trust should not benefit from a public pension. It's unfortunate my legislation was enacted too late to apply to Mr. Stevens' offenses. But I urge him to voluntarily forfeit his Congressional pension." Stevens, of course, says he's innocent and, Wolf, says he'll fight this conviction -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: And he says he will fight this conviction. All right, thanks very much. Drew Griffin, thanks very much. Sarah Palin is moving from battleground state to battleground state with a rally this hour in Pennsylvania. And she's drawing a lot of criticism, but she also draws huge crowds wherever she goes -- even in bad weather. CNN's Dan Lothian is in Norfolk. He's got some battleground coverage for us -- tell us what's going on, Dan, because this is an interesting phenomenon.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. She really does seem to fire up her crowds, especially those who are her supporters -- those die-hard Republicans. But what we also found while attending one of her rallies, you'll find a lot of people there who are still shopping around.</s>LOTHIAN (voice-over): Sarah Palin walks in like a rock star and hits just the right note to get her supporters going -- stay away from Obama, he'll raise your taxes.</s>PALIN: Barack Obama is for bigger, more controlling government and higher taxes.</s>LOTHIAN: It's a sure bet that many who braved cold and damp weather to be here are solid Republicans -- the base.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I agree with her views on just about everything.</s>LOTHIAN: And so does Robin Dusette (ph).</s>DUSETTE: I'm a very good example of the base.</s>LOTHIAN: She drove two-and-a-half hours to get here.</s>DUSETTE: And I drove -- I got up at 6:00 this morning to drive here and stand in the rain and the cold with my children to see Sarah Palin.</s>LOTHIAN: But in a crowd this large, there are bound to be some who are still making up their minds or are simply curious. Amanda Cowtz (ph) is a college student who's on the fence -- a self-described Independent voter still doing her home work.</s>AMANDA COWTZ: I'm not exactly sure yet. I went to go see Obama talk in Washington and I came here to watch her talk, too. So after I listen to her speak, I'm going to make my decision.</s>LOTHIAN: We weren't able to catch up with her after the rally, but we did run into Dominick Foster (ph), another Independent who's voting for Obama, but curious about Governor Palin.</s>DOMINICK FOSTER: I'm not really supporting, you know, McCain, but I just wanted to see what it's all about.</s>LOTHIAN: This is what it's all about -- all things Palin for sale. And a Republican vice presidential candidate who seems to have energized the party base -- and others. Like Patty Merritt (ph), who also stood in the rain in this crowded park -- an Independent voter leaning in what the party would consider the right direction.</s>PATTY MERRITT: I think I'm more for McCain and Palin than I am Obama.</s>LOTHIAN: Some here who have already made up their minds are now trying to influence their friends. Like Margie Paglinavo (ph), who got to shake Governor Palin's hand -- a magic moment she plans to pass on to her friends, who are still undecided.</s>MARGIE PAGLINAVO: They're still</s>LOTHIAN: The McCain-Palin campaign is working very hard to make sure that this red state does not turn blue. And they're hoping that they can get some help from those undecided voters -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much. Dan Lothian working the story. She's been jailed in Italy for nearly a year -- now a young American woman learns she may face trial for the murder of her roommate there. And that Special Forces raid into Syria by U.S. forces drawing very different reactions from the McCain and Obama campaigns. We'll tell you what their reactions are right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.