Anchorage mayor Mark Begich (D) increased his lead over Republican Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska) to 1,022 votes as of late Friday, giving Democrats hope of raising their Senate majority to 58 seats.

State officials suspended their tally for the weekend and are scheduled to begin counting the remaining absentee and provisional ballots early next week.

Democrats say they are confident about the race because, since election officials began counting nearly 90,000 absentee and provisional ballots at the start of the week, Begich has erased a more-than 3,000-vote deficit.

Democrats argue that Begich has taken the lead since the counting of absentee ballots because many of his supporters were encouraged to vote early.

“The Democrats were very aggressive with early-vote efforts,” said Begich spokeswoman Julie Hasquet. “We had super-aggressive canvass efforts across the state to get people out voting early.”

The Alaska race now seems the best opportunity for Democrats to pick up their 58th seat in the Senate. They also have a chance of capturinf Republican Sen. Norm Coleman’s seat in Minnesota.
Coleman leads by 206 votes out of nearly 3 million votes cast. The Republican led by 725 votes on Nov. 4 but watched his lead shrink after state election officials counted missed ballots and double-checked their totals.

A laborious hand recount of all ballots is set to begin next week and may take weeks to complete.

Democrats have a smaller possibility of winning the seat now held by Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.). Chambliss failed to win over 50 percent of the vote in his race against Democrat Jim Martin. State law requires the two candidates to square off again in a runoff scheduled for Dec. 2.

A major question for Democrats in Georgia is whether they can still mobilize as many African-American voters in December without President-elect Barack Obama on the ticket. African-Americans voted overwhelmingly for Obama and other Democratic candidates on Nov. 4.

Senate Democrats view 58 as a crucial number in the Senate because it would give them enough votes, when combined with Maine’s two liberal Republican senators, to quash obstructionist Republican procedural tactics.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) are considered the most likely to vote with Democrats on procedural votes that need to be cleared to pass controversial legislation. Some conservative activists believe, for example, that it would be useless to attempt to filibuster liberal judicial nominees if Democrats control 58 seats because they expect Collins and Snowe to vote with the majority often.

Control of 58 seats will also give Democrats a strong chance to pass the controversial Employee Free Choice Act. The legislation is a top priority for labor groups but hated by business interests because it would make it much easier for labor activists to organize unions. It would allow labor activists to organize without holding secret ballot elections.