Alaska 2008 races

The Red State of Alaska in next up on our 50 state tour and what a surprising battleground state its proving to be.

In the senate race, Incumbent Republican Theodore Stevens has become the primary target of a federal corruption probe that initially targetted his sone, Former State Senate President Ben Stevens. The FBI and IRS raids on Ted's house regarding his renovations and the recent testimony of VECO Corp. president Bill Allen, who stated that his employee's did the work on Steven's house. Allen stated in open court that he had bribed a sitting U.S. Senator. Allen admitted that among the bribery charges he pled guilty to was the renovation work done to Steven's home, so Senator Steven's is in big time ethical trouble. To cap off his problems, the Club for Growth, an organization dedicated to electing fiscal conservatives, is looking to run a primary challenge against Steven's, whos unabashed earmarking and multitude of pork-barrel projects, including his multi-million dollar "bridge to nowhere", have enraged the group.

The Democrats, to this point, have just sat on the sidelines and watched Stevens deflate. Unalaska City Councilman Rocky Caldero is the biggest name in the race thus far but he will easily be swept aside by the eventual big name Democrat that enters this race. Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, the son of Former Alaskan United States Representative Nick Begich, who died is a plane crash back in the 70's, is the main target of Democrats for both the Senate and House race. Former Governor Tony Knowles may make that decision for him as it is rumored that he will seek the Senate seat, which would most likely push Begich into the House race. Knowles is not expected to run for the House which may leave an opening for State Representative Ethan Berkowitz, who was the Lieutenent Governor nominee for the Democrats in 2006.

As long as the Democrats run a strong candidate in both state races in Alaska next year, things should be hot in this very cold state. United States Representative Donald Young is also mired in his own ethical scandals with his connections to VECO corp also being looked at. His biggest problem isn't VECO though, its a congressional earmark that got re-written after it was voted on and past through the legislature. The earmark voted on in the Transportation bill was for 10 million dollars to an expansion project on I-75 in Florida. After the vote, it was re-written to make the project on for the controversial Coconut Road interchange. The project would greatly benefit one of Youngs major fundraisers and took place mere weeks after the benmefactor held a fundraiser for Young. Lee County Florida rejected the money after being warned that rejection could lead to fewer federal dollars down the road and the state of Florida is making plans to use the money for its intended purpose, the widening of I-75. The impact of these scandals can be seen is Young re-election numbers just last year before the earmarking scandal came out. Young was re-elected in 2004 with 71.1% of the vote but garnered just 56.6% in 2006 against underfunded little known playwright Diane Benson. Benson is looking for a re-match but is unexpected to make it past the primaries as the Democrats make a major push for this seat.

With ethics scandals abound on all levels of government in this state, the Democrats have a real shot at this senate and house seat. Unlike what appears to be a majority of the Republicans in this state, the Democrats here don't have any ethics problems.