Interesting battle shaping up for the Golden Dukey award for Best Scandal, General Interest category (instructions and contest and prize details here). After I discussed nominations we've gotten so far yesterday and the strong candidacy of corrupt Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), something of a Alaska Muck Battle Royale has broken out. And it's over whether Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) or Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) has the best claim to the big prize.

It basically breaks down like this. Stevens, in addition to being a legendary porkmeister, has used his power corruptly for his own personal enrichment and that of his family. The freebie home renovation he received from now-convicted briber Bill Allen of the VECO corporation is a good example of Stevens' MO. And yet for all Stevens sweetheart deals, personal enrichment and apparent bribe-taking, his methods are fairly conventional and the pork he shovels seems to pretty much all go back to his home state of Alaska.

Then on the other hand you have Rep. Young. Like Stevens, he's at the center of a major criminal probe into his activities. And yet his methods are highly, highly innovative. Unlike Stevens, quite a lot of Young's pork goes to people and places other than his constituents -- in various states around the country -- usually in pretty direct return for cash payments into his campaign coffers. Indeed, earlier this year, it came out that Young had taken the apparently unprecedented and clearly unconstitutional step of adding pork to an appropriations bill after Congress had passed it.

And yet, for all this innovative work, our general sense from doing a fair amount of reporting on Young, is that little of his corruption is tied to enriching himself personally.

So there you have it -- Stevens' generally unimaginative venal corruption versus Don Young's highly innovative pay-for-play schemes directed mainly at getting campaign contributions in exchange for giving away taxpayer money to contributors.

Your thoughts? And be sure to get in your nominations. Remember we'll choose the best nominations -- that is, the submitted Golden Duke nomination which best makes the case for the particular wrongdoer's qualifications to be the winner. So get your nominations in today!