The point isn't just whether the State funded it or not - somebody paid for it, and that somebody was NOT Senator Stevens.  During the last election there was a lot of discussion of whether our elected leaders should be accepting large donations from foreign donors.  The question for the Alaska voting public is who paid for it, why did they pay for it, and what do they expect from Senator Stevens in return?  I think reporters have every business asking those questions, and our elected officials OUGHT to be answering them.