Embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens plans to keep his seat if he is re-elected to a seventh term and will step down only if he loses his appeal on his seven felony convictions, says close friend and fellow Sen. Daniel Inouye.

With about 60,000 absentee ballots left to be counted, Stevens, 84, held a 3,500-vote lead yesterday over Democratic challenger Mark Begich. He could be the first convicted felon re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

Inouye said he talked by phone with Stevens, who has served in the Senate for 40 years, yesterday morning while the votes were still being counted.

“;He should be allowed to serve as long as the appeal is going on,”; Inouye told reporters. “;That's part of our constitutional system. A man is not guilty until fully declared so.

“;In this case, he sincerely feels there is some error on the part of the court and jury and I think evidence suggests that. We've done this in the past for other members of the Senate - if they appeal, they can stay on. I have been assured by Sen. Stevens that if the appeal fails, he will voluntarily step down.”;

Until then, the Hawaii Democrat added, Stevens has “;the right as every citizen of the United States to appeal a verdict.”;

On Oct. 27, Stevens was convicted in a Washington, D.C., federal court on seven felony charges of lying on financial disclosure forms about thousands of dollars of gifts and home improvements he had received. Stevens will be sentenced Jan. 26 and faces up to five years in prison on each count.

If Stevens is re-elected, he could face expulsion from the Senate, where it takes a two-thirds vote to get rid of a sitting senator.

The Washington Post yesterday reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Stevens would likely be removed, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the re-elected Senate Republican minority leader, said that if Stevens “;is re-elected and the felony charge stands through the appeals process, there is zero chance that a senator with a felony conviction would not be expelled from the Senate.”;

Like Inouye, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, both Republicans, have argued Stevens could keep his seat long enough to go through an appeal.