Longest serving Senate Repug (Ted "The Criminal" Stevens) won't attend RNC Convention.

Stevens Won't Attend GOP Convention
@ 1:01 pm by Michael Sandler

Don't look for Sen. Ted Stevens at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota in September.

The indicted Alaska Republican won't attend the Republican Convention, planning instead to campaign ahead of his toughest reelection bid of his four-decade Senate career. His campaign says the senator hadn't planned on attending even before he was charged last week with seven felony counts of concealing $250,000 worth of gifts and home renovations from an oil-services company.

Stevens has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

His appearance with politicians facing voters in November could have given Democrats ammunition for the fall campaign. It also could have created some awkward situations since Republican leaders and their standard bearer, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), all have donated to charity the money Stevens has raised for them this election cycle.

One person not facing re-election who doesn't mind being seen with Stevens is President Bush, who held a photo opportunity Monday with the senator at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Before he met with the president, Stevens held a rally with supporters at his campaign headquarters in Alaska, saying he was innocent of all charges and characterizing the day he was indicted as "one of the most difficult days of my life."

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2008/08/05/stevens-wont-attend-gop-convention/