Stevens, the fifth-ranking member of the U.S. Senate, serves as ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and sits on the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees fisheries, oceans, aviation and technology issues. His positions have brought tens of millions in federal funds into the state.

If re-elected in November, the Republican has said he will continue to press for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, building a gas pipeline and improving roads, airports and ports.

While running their campaigns on shoestring budgets, some of Stevens' opponents have accused him of involvement in criminal conspiracies and betraying the U.S. Constitution.

Democratic candidate Frank Vondersaar, 52, of Homer, is running against Stevens in an attempt to rid the government of what he calls "fascist criminals."

Vondersaar, a former lawyer and engineer, says Stevens and others within the federal government are part of a conspiracy that has had him under surveillance since the mid-'80s.

Between 1972 and 1985, Vondersaar said he served in the U.S. Air Force with top secret clearance and access to sensitive military intelligence and nuclear weapons information.

Vondersaar claims that shortly after informing Stevens he had discovered a "listening device" planted in his home he was sent to a psychiatric ward for six months. He said the harassment and surveillance has continued since he was discharged - because of mental health issues - from the Air Force in 1987.

Stevens has categorically denied involvement in such a conspiracy.

Alaskan Independence Party candidate Jim Dore, 51, is running a pro-guns, anti-abortion, anti-United Nations campaign.

Dore has run for Congress against Rep. Don Young three times in the within the last decade - in 1996 and '98 as a Republican and in 2000 under the Alaskan Independence Party. From the mid-1970s to 1985 Dore worked on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and now works as a part-time carpenter in Anchorage.

"I am running for U.S. Senate because of Ted Stevens' immoral and unconstitutional voting record," Dore said.

Stevens' support of a bill in 2001 by U.S. Sens. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, to tighten campaign contribution laws, violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Dore said.

If elected, Dore said he would work to eliminate all federal gun control laws, federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Like Dore, Libertarian candidate Leonard Karpinski, a 45-year-old engineering designer from Anchorage, said if elected he would work to limit the federal government's involvement in state and foreign affairs.

"I'll see what I can repeal basically," he said.

Karpinski said he would push the Congress to end U.S. aid and military involvement in foreign countries.

"Some of these countries are as rich as us now, and they need to do what they have to to defend themselves," Karpinski said.

He also said he would form coalitions with lawmakers in Western states to return lands held by the federal government.

"The issues with ANWR would be moot if they were in private hands," Karpinski said. "It should be state-owned or preferably privately-owned."

Karpinski acknowledged returning federal lands to Alaska would be a difficult task but added he anticipates more libertarians who support his philosophy soon will be elected to Congress.

Karpinski said he also would press to repeal federal income taxes.

Green Party candidate Jim Sykes, 52, of Palmer, said he would work with both Democrats and Republicans on issues such as a natural gas pipeline, universal health care, a rural preference for subsistence hunting and fishing, and protecting ANWR from oil exploration.

Sykes, a former Green Party gubernatorial candidate, said he supports the all-Alaska route for the gasline as opposed to running the line through Canada. The gas could be sold in Asia and to emerging markets on the West Coast, he said.

Sykes said a proposal supported by Stevens would provide subsidies to the industry when gas prices are low.

"But if the prices don't rise, then the companies would not have to make repayments," Sykes said. "It is absolutely the worst of all possible worlds."

Sykes said he also would push to develop pilot projects for solar, wind and geothermal energy sources.

"If we simply conserve our resources we can have more of an impact than drilling for more oil," Sykes said.

Timothy Inklebarger can be reached at timothyi@juneauempire.com