Live Q&A at The Washington Post
I’ll be online today, Wednesday November 3, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, 11 a.m. Pacific, 10 a.m. Alaska time to take questions on the election results in Alaska, and how they will impact the state and the rest of the country.
You can submit questions for the queue HERE.
I look forward to discusssing what is perhaps the most interesting senate race in the country. It is certainly the most complicated.
***UPDATE***
I got some great questions from Washington Post readers today. I didn’t get the chance to answer them all, but you can read the Q&A by clicking HERE.
I have no doubt the bush area given the right opportunit situations will survive and well…it will take
the opportunity situations..jobs…more good educational situations..they have proven the can if..
they have many good leaders in the corporations as well..Nicolia was finally making some very good
business situations but fell for a younger lady opportunist..well..not to smart there. and he lost a
very good postion and quickly. The bush area needs the no bid contracts more than any other
situation..with the very high prices there of necessity…the way of the out of state and others that
get first choice of their old substance situations..plus in time they will not need the no bid contracts.
I doubt if the Missouri person on this has ever been in the bush area..and the Washington Post
article while good..really did not go into how well some of the corporations have done for these
people..consider it takes investment to keep an area like this able to go up and up and pay good
dividends. If the Obama adminstration pays attention to helping the bush area that will also
help Alaska be less of a red state..in elections.
somehow I missed this story and did not get to hear the program..wish I had. It is so good..important
that Mudflats viewpoints get a lot of natonal attention…many in all the states will understand so
much better..the real Alaska and Alaskans..which they will never get from Palin’s Alaska or Fox
news..Alaska has so much real news daily..that is very instrumental in situations ..goverment..
climate change…business as to mines..oil ..the bush area..etc..that have impact on all that is
in decesions for all the states.
I also do not know how Obama could work any better with the ultra right wing Republicans and the
tea party…they have said their main interest is to defeat him..which is quite evident..of course it is
not personel..Obama..except for some that are actually racists…but it is about their complete control
of the government with the same old policy and theory that caused all this dire straights for all
America in the first place. Wheter Obama is saying this ..to show when they veto all the situations
that will help Americans..ie they ultra right wing and tea party…I do not know…but this time..
Democrats..all Democrats..stick together…it should be a learning lesson many of the so afraid
for themself..blue dogs were defeated in the last midtern election…hopeuflly Nancy P…will get
elected..she is a real force and fighter for the American people. did you notice when on Fox
G.Ferraro..sp ck? said Nancy P..who she has known for years..is very smart..and knew everything
that was in the new healthcare reform bill…S.Palin was quiet as a mouse after that remark on
Nancy P. by that lady. Palin needs people who ask her pointed valid questions…same for Miller..
do not fall for any cutesy stuff…and answer her back with facts and firmness.
Wondering about Lisa..will she now follow the ultra right wing in lockstep or not?
McAdams is simply a great guy and he will rise up in political circles again..as he should
Lisa had better fight for the bush area or she will make many unhappy voters..will she?
…still yearning for that sword of truth and shield of righteousness, open minds and hearts, and fearlessness. I believe that we are taught to Love one another, fear not, and forgive…where does that all play out in this ‘christian country’ with the lies, hate, and evil being perpetrated on the people, by those who crow so-called ‘family values’, how do wars fit into it, the killing of innocent ‘others’, the rape of the earth, the never ending greed…always hoping for a dawning awareness of what is going on here…hello anyone out there?
Wow, AKM, you sounded like a realy smarty with those anwers…statistics and details just tripping off your tongue (or fingers, as it were!). Excellent job as always!
I have one more question for anyone here who can answer. AKM wrote “As it stands right now, Republicans can vote on whichever primary ballot they like, but Democrats can only vote on the Democratic ballot.”
So Repubs can cross over for the primary but Dems can’t? Why is that and how on earth did that happen??? Sooooo not fair!
NOOOOO
There are 3 primary ballots as of now.
After SCOTUS said parties could have closed primaries Rs here decided that is what they wanted-
and the ballots are rather strange to folks with larger participation in 2 party system
“Alaska’s Primary Structure
Alaska law allows a political party to select who may participate in their party’s primary. Parties may expand or limit who may participate in their Primary Election by submitting a written notice with a copy of their pre cleared by-laws to the Director of Elections no later than September 1st of the year prior to the year in which a Primary Election is to be held.
Based on political party by-laws submitted to the Division of Elections there are three ballot choices:
Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Libertarian Party and Alaskan Independence Party Candidate with Ballot Measures ballot – any registered voter may vote this ballot;
Alaska Republican Party Candidate with Ballot Measures ballot – voters registered as Republican, Nonpartisan or Undeclared may vote this ballot; and
the Ballot Measures Only ballot – any registered voter may vote this ballot.
The political party affiliation listed on a voter’s registration record 30 days prior to the election determines which primary ballot type a voter is eligible to vote. ”
http://www.elections.alaska.gov/ei_primary.php
We Dems LET Rs cross over because we believe in open primaries… they don’t
Enjoyed reading the Q&A
Very good job AKM!
Neat format there with the questions and answers and you did a great job
🙂
Good work with the WaPo, AKM. Congratulations on getting the gig.
Wow, couldn’t they like, wait a week or something before they unleash the nutbaggery? *sigh*
What in the heck?!!
Don Young calls to replace President Obama.
http://www.ktva.com/oldlocal/ci_16512973?source=rss
Up around 11:37, talking about people with low info heads. I was at appt today, there were prolly 10-15 other people in the waiting room. As I waited and noticed each of them
I realized these are the people who dont have any grasp on what *is* actually
happening, out there; they will accept a meme and thats all they will hear.
Oddly enough, they are the same ‘kinds’ of people who go to doctors, a lot.
Often, all the time, for everything, all things always. They let Drs cut on them
and send them for this and that, script them and keep them on the hook.
Heard one woman talking about THREE hip replacements, working on a 4th.
…these are the people who vote TP radrw: they have to be led and told what
to do, and they dont seem to mind it being very crazy.
‘repeating the same behavior while expecting different results is insane’.
Einstein. (seems most attributions.)
Joe didn’t appear at election central???? that says more about his character than just about anything.
Suspect his presence would have not garnered the enthusiasm rendered to other candidates. Though he might have gotten a chunk of the votes, there weren’t any Miller signs that I saw at Election Central. Maybe his folks knew he wasn’t showing up, because they certainly didn’t seem to be anywhere around to speak of.
When it looked like he was not going to win he made his supporters go home, refused to go to election central, then claimed he had to put his children to bed. Hmmmm.
Maybe he had to go resell all that office furniture he’d decided to buy a few weeks back for his D.C. digs.
Are we sure his name isn’t “Dick”?
Seems to me that only shows a lack of courtesy, which pales before his multiple displays of dishonesty.
AKM, just want to say your responses struck me as — I was going to say “fair and balanced,” but those fine words have been degraded a bit in recent years, so I’ll say “just and measured.” I thought Mike Doogan’s “outing” you was a blessing in disguise at the time, and still do.
Chaim I thought it was wrong of him to do but in the long run it has been the best thing for AKM and this blog.It has only gotten better and bigger
Great questions answered! I submitted 3 and had two answered. One about Joe’s non appearence at election central and another about a favorite quote during the whole campaign…
great answers! When Palin called Lisa a liberal, I totally lost it! Dessert fell out of my mouth!
Meanwhile there is a gentleman from Sitka I believe we Alaskans, and non Alaskans, need to thank for being a class act thru the most nasty, vile, spit and spew election process ever in this state. Now I know the official count isn’t a done deal yet, but I’m sending a QUYANA card to the McAdams campaign. His penchant taking the high road certianlly made me behave better.
Great questions and good answers by AKM on the Post…. My question did not get answered, but maybe one of you kind mud pups might be able to. I see that current Governor Parnell whom had to take over when “she who could not keep an oath” quit, got elected to continue for a full term. Did the half term ex-governor help with Parnell’s campaign?
If the quitter helped Parnell, it wasn’t very much. I don’t recall seeing anything about her hosting a fundraiser or anything like that. Of course, given her approval ratings in Alaska, he might have asked her to stay away.
No, Palin did nothing for Parnell. Not clear whether it was because he didn’t want the association or because she didn’t want to give it. Their relationship was not all cake and ice cream.
I was mid-question-asking when flllooowoop, the page flipped and my question went away…possibly because the ‘live’ portion time was up [it was 3:30pm EDT]? There was a start time listed, no end time.
The question I was asking was:
Could –or would– Scott McAdams challenge ALL votes cast at those polling places where ‘the list’ was made readily available for voters to take into the booth, and, in some cases where ‘the list’ was even posted *in* the booth!, on grounds that by the Dept of Elections doing so/allowing it, the DoE was giving the not-so-subtle message to ALL voters that the *only* candidate who should be voted for as Senator [in lieu, or not!, of Joe Miller,] was the write-in, Lisa Murkowski? Seems to me that he’d have a pretty good case for showing Dept of Elections intent, intimidation, electioneering, and/or who knows what all else, had made a mockery of the election process and denied the voter –each and every single one at those locations — their right to an unimpeded, unpressured, secret ballot.
I sincerely hope *someone* has Scott’s ear and it telling him NOT to concede *squat* until ALL the votes are counted and ALL the court challenges have been judged…and a *final* verdict on the entire bungle of the vote has been rendered. Stranger things have happened than a person down by 12-18% has won in the end. I, for one, can see him pulling this one out…if he keeps his cool and allows the two children in the race to knock each other’s votes out of the count. beth.
The list was not given to voters to take into the booth. It had to be viewed at the table. There was one copy per polling place. The list was not posted in the booth. That only happened in Homer and seventeen ballots were sequestered because of it. I’m not sure what’s happening with those.
McAdams does not plan on contesting any of the ballots as he is far enough behind that it would not result in a Democratic win. What Miller’s people will do remains to be seen.
Good questions and answers at Washington Post.
Regarding votes for Joe Miller. Alaska has a large population of
uneducated voters. Good people, but ignorant! That is where Joe
Miller gets his votes. Ignorant voters elected $ARAH as their Governor.
Keep speaking out Alaskan voters. We in the lower 48 are listening to you.
Speaking of ignorant Alaskan voters, I’ve gotta tell my story:
One morning last winter, I was sitting between two, unrelated, Alaskan women in the Sitka airport. We were three strangers who had hours to kill waiting for a flight and so, over time, we became quite friendly with each other.
Late in the morning, the Yakutat woman on my left noticed a man in a business suit waiting in line maybe 30 feet out in front of us as someone she recognized… she thought he was a man named Hollis….”a congressman”….I said, “Do you mean Senator Hollis French?” She said, “no, Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich are our senators.” I reminded her that she had just named the U.S. senators; there are also state senators, and I thought Hollis French was a senator, a STATE senator, not a state congressman. Vacant stare. I got nowhere with her.
I turned to the Alaskan on my right from Ketchikan and asked her if she recognized the man. She didn’t, but she said absolutely the very same thing, in the same order, in the same level of unawareness. NEITHER Alaskan woman had a clue that Hollis French is a STATE senator or even acknowledged that there are STATE senators; Lisa and Mark are their senators…
I’m from Texas. Do you know how frickin’ weird that is, for me to have had THAT conversation with ALASKANS?
YIKES!
yeah, well , she also asked a cab driver in ANC if all men like him (SP-bot) had trouble thinking with their bigger heads
and almost got us a one way ticket into a light pole …
do you know how wild it is to be out and about with with a progressive Texan ?! 🙂
Not surprised… go to any state and find the same thing. This is our problem!
I talked to a really nice person at Election Central last evening who told me he voted for Miller in the primary, but when he heard about all the strangeness in his past, etc., he felt betrayed. I think that there are others who are interested in hearing a conservative voice who just don’t have the same access to information that a lot of us take for granted. I suspect that many of his supporters heard about a lot of the news about him either second hand or through sympathetic sources. After all, most of us are populating internet sites in a collaborative environment of information sharing and discussion. Not true for many others.
If fans of the Mudflats aren’t following the conversations over at the Washington Post, they should be. The link:
http://live.washingtonpost.com/2010-election-alaska-jeanne-devon.html
Question:
Why do you think Joe Miller’s terrible personnel file contents, along with his unwillingness to discuss any backround matters (ie ANSWER QUESTIONS) had no greater bearing on the number of votes he was still able to get?
She replied to your question! But not mine, alas.
Yep, saw that. Thanks.
oops, I re-asked that at Washington post.
Hey thanks for answering, AKM!
Your welcome. There were dozens I couldn’t get to. I was typing fast and furious, though! They were all great questions.
Molly… why do you ask? You know the answer! Because demagogues hit people where they fall into the “I just feel it in my gut” mode. At that point nothing else matters.
Why do people repeat over and over that they are concerned about the government spending and the deficit, but when two votes are put before them that will put Alaska into a billion dollars debt on what appears to be fairly bloated spending not of the highest priority on many people’s list, they vote YES?
They are only concerned about government spendeing and debt when it doesn’t put money in their pockets. They only want to cut spending that helps the other guy.
Vanity Fair’s Purdham laid it out well this morning on NPR, Obama may well better develop his message for 2012 retention with this Republican control of Congress.
I see another two years of irritating and unhelpful roadblocks, but we’ll have a better designed argument with proof that the Tea Party and Hard Right R’s are less able to accomplish anything in two years the way Obama accomplished almost too much in his first 16 months.
I just wonder if America can afford to waste two years?
I’d love to have Jeanie talk on topic. There are dozens of analyists on TV dealing with the National and Presidential issues.
Is there a link for the Washington Post to follow along with this online chat?
If you click on the link for the queue (above), it will take you directly to it. You can submit questions and read along too.
My question has to do with our president and the rest of the country. Just watched President Obama’s press conference where he talked about trying harder to work with republicans.
I am under the impression that there were 150 republican amendments on the healthcare bill and 0 republican votes. I am also under the impression that the stimulus was 40% tax cuts because that is what the 8 or 10 republicans who signed on demanded.
The only way we could try any harder to work with the republicans would be to give them 100% of what they want.
…to try harder means this: to give away more of the progressive agenda with no “good will” in return. If our President does not toughen up, we might as well hang it up.
Sorry, forgot the question. Is this where Obama is headed. Do the progressives have the stomach to follow him there? I’m not sure taking the “high road” will pay off for progressives as much as it will pay off for the President personally.
Let’s be honest… with the group we’re speaking of, conservatives, nothing Obama does will pay off personally or otherwise.
No, it will not pay off for progressives, because republicans are bullies who do not respect civil discourse. They totally rely upon their tried and true weapons of aggression – both domestically and internationally. I do not know the answer to this dilemma.