Powell, Inouye expected to testify on Stevens’s behalf

Sen. Ted Stevens's legal defense team plans to call to the witness stand prominent politicians who can vouch for the Alaska Republican's character, according to court papers filed Wednesday.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Stevens's best friend in the Senate, are among a list of 15 witnesses the defense plans to call over the next week. Not included on the list are Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), all of whom were mentioned as prospective witnesses at the outset of the trial. Neither Stevens nor his wife Catherine are listed as anticipated witnesses.

{mosads}Stevens, 84, who faces reelection next month, is charged with seven felony counts for failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from longtime friends. The longest-serving GOP senator has pleaded not guilty to all seven counts.

After two weeks of testimony, the government plans to rest its case Wednesday afternoon. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has scheduled a hearing Wednesday afternoon on the defense's motion to dismiss the case over allegations that  the government failed to provide Stevens with key evidence before the trial began.

Even though Sullivan has grown angry at prosecutors' handling of the case, he does not seem eager to dismiss the seven-count indictment.

"I’m not going to get sidetracked," the judge said Wednesday morning.

If the case proceeds, the defense will likely begin making its arguments Thursday and is expected to rest its case next week.

Stevens calls Inouye, the Senate's third most senior Democrat, his "brother," and attended his wedding in California earlier this year. Even though he is in his eighth term, Inouye maintains a low profile and may not have the same star power as Powell, who was a major player in the first term of the Bush administration.