The Alaska Senate Race – Round Two. Ding!
Here’s a quick update on the Alaska Senate Race for those of you still playing along at home. As it stands right now “Write-In Candidate” is 13,439 votes ahead of Joe Miller. We don’t know how many are actually for Lisa Murkowski, but we can presume it’s a large percent somewhere in the neighborhood of all of them. How many will be thrown out because of error? History tells us about 7%. What kind of spelling deviations will still be allowed? Where is the thin bright line between voter intent, and close but no cigar? What happens for people who write…
Oyster Roundup
~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! Neighbors and Cupcakes and Bears – Oh, my! For the faint of heart, and the thin of stomach lining, the ADN’s Julia O’Malley got a peek at the first episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, and she watched it so you don’t have to. Between carrying on about the neighbor, and trying to shoo boys out of Willow’s room, you can get all the details about what it takes to go fishing in “bear country.” Just to clarify what you may already be thinking – yes, all of…
Peepgate Update – McGinniss Has Had Enough of Palins’ Spying
Update on Peepgate. It seems that Joe McGinniss is none too pleased at his former neighbor Peeper Palin. Through his attorney, McGinniss is demanding that his image be removed from the first episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, entitled “Mama Grizzly.” The proper terminology for the female brown bear defending her cubs is really “angry sow” but I’m sure that title was rejected. I’ll bet in respose to the letter below, Palin will sue, and demand that McGinniss take down all the photographs of them he’s posted on the internet, and all the scandalous spy reporting about how many bags they bring in…
Who’s the Real Peeper? Palin v. Neighbor in New Show for TLC.
Alas, we have been ignoring her but she has not fulfilled her end of the bargain and gone away. Far from it. Last week I received a lovely email invitation from TLC asking me if I’d like to attend an open house event in New York City for bloggers and online media to learn more about Sarah Palin’s Alaska. It was a nice invitation and it assured me that the show was not “political.” I passed. Even I have my limits. I hope I have your forgiveness. Those in attendance were treated to a little extra sneak peak of the…
Alaska’s View from the Hill With Senator Mark Begich
Once again Matt Felling of KTVA sits down for a conversation with a member of Alaska’s congressional delegation. This time it’s Senator Mark Begich (D). He remarks about the surprisingly low turnout in Alaska’s election and the large number of Alaskans who remained undecided until the last moment. He’s calling the race for Murkowski. “I think she’ll have a small drop off, maybe 5 percent, maybe 10 percent — what you see is an end result of an election where she still wins.” He talked about how the money given to Murkowski by Native Corporations had impact, and has some…
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.
Signs of Things to Come – Alaska Election 2010
Nothing says political season in Alaska like signs. Sure, sign waving happens in all elections, but Alaskans love our signs more than most. And nowhere in Alaska can you witness the traditional Election Eve battle of the signs like you can in two locations – The New Seward Highway and Northern Lights Blvd., and down the road at Northern Lights and Minnesota, in Anchorage. It’s a combination of spectator sport, pissing contest, and ritual. So, I took a little drive to see what was to be seen at these two prime areas of sign real estate. I pulled up to a…
Voices from the Flats – New Poll Shows Alaskans Must Vote Their Values AND Their Fears!
By Elstun Lauesen In an alternate Universe, Lisa Murkowski listened to her wiser angels and did not run a write in. She then pursued a higher calling, along the lines of post-politician Fran Ulmer, and Lisa found a sinecure in an academic bunker and lived happily ever after. In that same alternate universe, Scott McAdams faced off with Joe Miller, conducted an effective persuasion and attack campaign and went on to win the U.S. Senate seat by roughly the combined anti-Miller vote of THIS universe, beating Miller 63% to 37%. McAdams goes on to become a great U.S. Senator and…
Lisa Murkowski: She’s changed, we haven’t.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) released their latest commercial for the benefit of Scott McAdams, describing Lisa Murkowski’s mischaracterization of her political stances: The video is great and the message is spot-on. This gives me the opportunity to talk about a piece of Senator Frank Murkowski’s history where we can see Lisa following in her dad’s footsteps. During the Rachel Maddow Show’s visit to Alaska, Lisa Murkowski discussed the time (back in the 80’s) that the Moral Majority took over the Republican Party (5:20 on the video): What she does NOT discuss is how her father, then Senator Frank…
McAdams Full-Page Ad: “I’m Twice the Man Joe Miller Is…”
As a large girl myself, I’m infuriated but not surprised by the ignorant Conservatives, (or DINOs, or folks with mental health issues) who can find nothing to use against Sitka Mayor and US Senate Candidate Scott McAdams except his size: –ADN “AK-Voices” right-winger, Brian Sweeney forgoes credibility in lieu of insulting size-references to Mayor McAdams in at least two of his “articles.” (I have no doubt his sneering commentary is a throwback to some kind of High School trauma involving a football player and his head in a swirling toilet.) –Facebook fans obsessed with Lisa or Joe have become desperate now that…