OMG! Liberal Palin Freak Out!
I think I heard something… That familiar grinding sound like when you’ve worn through a pair of brake shoes. Shhh… Hear that? Ah! Yes. I’ve got it. That metal on metal noise used to be Alaska’s governor. She’s managed to grab a moment in the spotlight again by… wait for it… saying dumb stuff. Shocking. After the last election cycle in which her party was soundly thrashed, she lost her one remaining claim to anything remotely serious. She’s now no longer the immediate past Republican Vice Presidential nominee. That embarrassing mantle is now worn by Congressman Paul Ryan. That makes…
Gender Gap Widens
Democrats are poised to shatter two more notable glass ceilings in the coming year. Fresh off their success in adding women like Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin to the US Senate in last month’s election, the nation’s two largest cities are both a good bet to elect their first ever female mayors in 2013. Incumbents Mike Bloomberg of New York and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles are both termed out next year, with the former likely to be replaced by NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and odds being the latter will be succeeded by either LA City Councilwoman Jan…
What are they up to?
Let’s do a quick check-in, and see what people are up to during the lull at the holiday season between the election, and the beginning of the next legislative session Mark Begich – Mark Begich is busy getting gold stars. The latest is for voting for the Feinstein Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which takes steps to end allowing the indefinite detention of American’s in the United States. Lisa Murkowski Lisa Murkowski is “outraged” about the Benghazi incident. And “she has no patience for the constantly changing stories coming out of the White House and even less for…
Recounting the Vote
Just when you thought it was over, it looks like two close races will be counted again. Ah. Ah. Ah. Senate candidate Bob Bell from Anchorage has requested a recount of his race with Hollis French. Bell lagged by 54 votes, and Senator French wasn’t surprised by the request, saying he’d probably do the same thing if the situation was reversed. [Side Note: I finally figured out why the name Bob Bell rings a … well, you know. Bob Bell was also the name of the actor who played Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984. I’m not necessarily saying…
Sitting Legislator Calls Opponent “A-hole”
The votes in the state’s two closest legislative races are in. Senator Hollis French will return to Juneau after winning his race against Bob Bell by 54 votes. And 24-year old Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins managed to eek out a victory in the District 34 House race by only 32 votes, meaning that his opponent Republican Bill Thomas can ask for a recount if he wants one. Kreiss-Tomkins whose mother is a beloved physician in the district, ran an assertive person-to-person campaign, visiting all the small islands that comprise most of the district, and really getting to know his constituents….
Votes Shift To Kreiss-Tomkins in Nailbiter Race
More absentee ballots were counted in the Alaska House District 34 race on Monday. When the day began, the race was a tie. At the end of the day, the 24-year old newcomer, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, led the entrenched Republican incumbent Bill Thomas by 28 votes. Absentee ballots will be counted until Wednesday, the final day they will be accepted. Insiders say that there are only 26 possible ballots to come in. So, even if they all go to Thomas, Tomkins will retail a 2 vote lead. The number of votes separating the two will determine whether Thomas will be…
GOP Lineup Goes Byzantine
The shakeup in the Alaska GOP continues. Our three party system (Dems, Republicans, and Tea Partiers) is going “byzantine,” according to the Alaska Ear. Yes, it’s inside baseball, but that’s really the only baseball that counts. The powerful finance committee is where bills go to live or die, and it seems like a couple of entrenched GOPpers find themselves on the outside looking in – or potentially so. Bill Thomas (R) who was assumed to be a fixture in said committee, finds himself suddenly in a race for relevancy with the awesome, out-of-nowhere Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins. Their race, as you…
Jesus Gets Punked by Exxon
Election day may be over here in Alaska, but now is when the fun begins. The results of a couple close races are hinging on absentee and questioned ballots yet to be examined, and shiny new lawmakers are angling for committee assignments and chairmanships. Pundits, meanwhile, examine and expound upon the results of the Citizens United meets Big Oil meets Jesus campaign machine. Let me be one of them. During this time, it’s good to remember the lessons of the past. The genius of Ronald Reagan was his ability to unite two completely different groups of people—with completely different policy…
Alaska Votes to Go Back
It’s surprising that more Alaskans aren’t wearing those puffy white braces around their necks. If you missed getting whiplash from Tuesday’s election results, you either don’t follow politics or you’re hibernating with the bears. The nation rejected the radical right agenda on many levels. Four states approved marriage equality for their gay and lesbian citizens. (I know! Maryland, Maine, Michigan and Washington aren’t, like Anchorage, holding public meetings so hundreds of people can quote scripture about why their freedoms are under attack if they can’t FIRE or EVICT gay people.) Recreational marijuana was legalized in Washington and Colorado. Three days…
Post Election Grief from “That Guy”
We’ve seen all kinds of wailing, and sobbing, and rending of garments since Tuesday’s Presidential election. We witnessed Karl Rove’s own mental denial of service attack on Fox News, and we’ve seen whatever right wing Facebook friends we have left indulging in a variety of reactions from head shaking at the idiocy of their fellow Amurrikans, to downright racist screeds about the President. But not until I read through my own emails, and saw this forward of a forward from a friend of a friend, had I seen such a comprehensive, and straightforward regurgitation of right wing gripes, talking points,…