Alaskan politics
Nov. 7th, 2008 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adiva_calandiaYour "Civics Of the Last Frontier" lesson for the day:
At last count, Sen. Ted Stevens (also known in Alaska as "Uncle Ted" for being a campaigner for Alaskan statehood, the longest-serving Republican in the US Senate, and the ultimate in bringing home the federal bacon; also also known as "A series of tubes"; also also also known as "a convicted felon") is leading mayor of Anchorage Mark Begich (also known as "graduate of my high school" and "brother-in-law of my high school Spanish teacher) in their race for the Senate by about 3,250 votes.
Feel free to join me in a resounding "What the fuck" at my state.
Some 60,000 votes still have to be counted -- that's absentee ballots, mostly, I think, including mine. My mother, who's been pretty involved in Alaska government for the last thirty years or so, says that absentee ballots tend to favor the Republican party; I continue to hold out hope that there are enough Alaskan kids attending college Outside who are disillusioned with Stevens that we can knock him out and get Begich in. And no matter what, I take some reluctant pleasure in the fact that Stevens is only leading by a few thousand votes.
Yeah, I'm embarrassed that I have to say "At least we elected a convicted felon on a very narrow margin!" too.
Assuming the worse -- and, sadly, most realistic possibility -- when all the votes are finalized on Nov. 15, Ted Stevens will still be an Alaskan senator.
No, that wasn't a typo. That's assuming the worse. Assuming the worst would be the sequence of events my mom laid out as a possibility: that no matter what -- even with a pardon from President Bush, which is a very real possibility, since it's not like the guy has anything to lose -- the Senate will expel Stevens, leaving an empty seat . . . and Sarah Palin will step in to fill it.
Which would really endear us to the Senate, the White House, and the American people.
Even if the above scenario doesn't play out (if Stevens gets expelled, Palin could appoint someone besides herself to take his place; Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa to the Junior Senator seat in 2002, when he was elected governor and had to leave the position himself), Senator Palin is a very real possibility. Say, in 2010, when Sen. Murkowski's seat comes up for re-election. And from Sen. Palin, "Palin 2012" is not far off.
It still makes me sick that this is the current face of my state to the country.
Anyway. That's how things stand back home, politically. The New York Times and Rep. Mike Doogan (who I had the pleasure of working with in the '06 Alaska House of Representative's campagin) both have good articles on the state of things.
At last count, Sen. Ted Stevens (also known in Alaska as "Uncle Ted" for being a campaigner for Alaskan statehood, the longest-serving Republican in the US Senate, and the ultimate in bringing home the federal bacon; also also known as "A series of tubes"; also also also known as "a convicted felon") is leading mayor of Anchorage Mark Begich (also known as "graduate of my high school" and "brother-in-law of my high school Spanish teacher) in their race for the Senate by about 3,250 votes.
Feel free to join me in a resounding "What the fuck" at my state.
Some 60,000 votes still have to be counted -- that's absentee ballots, mostly, I think, including mine. My mother, who's been pretty involved in Alaska government for the last thirty years or so, says that absentee ballots tend to favor the Republican party; I continue to hold out hope that there are enough Alaskan kids attending college Outside who are disillusioned with Stevens that we can knock him out and get Begich in. And no matter what, I take some reluctant pleasure in the fact that Stevens is only leading by a few thousand votes.
Yeah, I'm embarrassed that I have to say "At least we elected a convicted felon on a very narrow margin!" too.
Assuming the worse -- and, sadly, most realistic possibility -- when all the votes are finalized on Nov. 15, Ted Stevens will still be an Alaskan senator.
No, that wasn't a typo. That's assuming the worse. Assuming the worst would be the sequence of events my mom laid out as a possibility: that no matter what -- even with a pardon from President Bush, which is a very real possibility, since it's not like the guy has anything to lose -- the Senate will expel Stevens, leaving an empty seat . . . and Sarah Palin will step in to fill it.
Which would really endear us to the Senate, the White House, and the American people.
Even if the above scenario doesn't play out (if Stevens gets expelled, Palin could appoint someone besides herself to take his place; Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa to the Junior Senator seat in 2002, when he was elected governor and had to leave the position himself), Senator Palin is a very real possibility. Say, in 2010, when Sen. Murkowski's seat comes up for re-election. And from Sen. Palin, "Palin 2012" is not far off.
It still makes me sick that this is the current face of my state to the country.
Anyway. That's how things stand back home, politically. The New York Times and Rep. Mike Doogan (who I had the pleasure of working with in the '06 Alaska House of Representative's campagin) both have good articles on the state of things.
