Josh Kraushaar appears to be the first up with this exciting news:

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is expected to announce this afternoon that he'll be running against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), setting up a political battle between an iconic figure in Alaska politics against one of the rising Democratic stars statewide.

Begich has called a news conference for 2:30 p.m. EST to "announce his plans regarding the United States Senate seat held by Sen. Ted Stevens," according to a campaign statement.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been recruiting Begich for the last several months, believing he has the best chance of unseating Stevens. Begich's father, who was a congressman, died in a 1972 plane crash while campaigning in Alaska.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, anticipating Begich's campaign, has recently set up a website titled begichbaggage.com, designed to alert voters about Begich's political record. It is still under construction.

Alaska won't elect a Democrat, you say? After all, no Democrat has won a federal contest in the state since 1974 (thank you Mike Gravel) -- and that was about as good a year for the Democrats nationwide as we've ever seen. But take a look at Begich. Before you say that, though, take a look at some of the numbers on Begich, the son of the last Democrat to represent the state in the House and the current mayor of Anchorage.

According to a Hays Research in the field in Alaska back in June, 47 percent of Alaskans viewed Begich positively -- including 26 percent viewing him very positively -- compared with just 18 percent viewing him negatively. Newer non-partisan Research 2000 polling results from December showed largely the same results, with 48 percent rating Begich favorably and just 19 percent rating him unfavorably.

The head-to-heads for Begich, pitting him up against incumbent Republican Senator Ted Stevens, show the Democrat already leading 47 percent to 41 percent (according to that December R2K poll). Why, might you ask, would a key Alaskan figure like Stevens, who has represented the state for well over half of its existence, poll at 41 percent in a named head-to-head against a challenger -- albeit a very popular one? Perhaps this story from July explains it.

Federal law enforcement agents raided U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' Alaska home in Girdwood on Monday, hauling off undisclosed items from inside and taking extensive pictures and video.

Being conservative, I'll put this one in the "Tossup/Narrowly Leans Republican" column, largely because although Begich comes in with high favorables and a lead we do not know for certain that Stevens will be the one on the ballot come November. But that lean is about as narrow as they come, and this is very much a winnable race for Begich -- and one of the Democrats' five best Senate pickup opportunities in 2008.