Reaction to Palin’s Nomination from State Rep. Mike Doogan.

Here’s a great reaction to the Palin nomination from Alaska State Representative Mike Doogan:

…But debating foreign policy with Joe Biden? What’s she going to do? Hit him with her briefing book? If Palin has two thoughts about foreign policy, she’s managed to keep them to herself. Ditto health care. National energy policy. Fiscal policy. You could make a long, long list, but I’ll stop there. She’s going to need a lot of handlers feeding her a lot of talking points, and she’s going to have to hope that the discussion only goes about yay-deep.

She’s also going to have to hope that the national media is as pliable as Alaska’s has been. Palin doesn’t like people criticizing her, and she’s as competitive as any linebacker you ever met. If the campaign gets a little rough and tumble, that could be a bad combination.

So she could be great as a candidate. Or so so. Or blow up on the pad. But if the McCain-Palin ticket should win? Yikers. There’s no way on God’s green earth that she’s prepared to be president of the United States. The only consolation for me is remembering that J. Danforth Quayle once held the job she’s trying to get, and the world didn’t end.

But Sarah Palin?

Really?

Read it all HERE at Alaskan Abroad and check out the rest of the blog for more good info.

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Sarah Palin’s Vetting Problem.

On my first post that surreal morning when I awoke to the news of Sarah Palin’s unlikely choice as VP candidate, before I had even made a cup of coffee, or rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I said, “Didn’t McCain hire a fact checker?”  Was she vetted….at all?

It’s been over 48 hours, and now….seriously…was she vetted at all?  The possibility that the answer is no, is almost inconceivable.  But we Alaskans have found out that background checks are sometimes optional when hiring important government officials.  Just look at Palin’s unlikely and inappropriate choice of Chuck Koppto replace Dept. of Public Safety Chief, Walt Monegan, the center of the “Troopergate” controversy.

As soon as Kopp appeared before the public….literally on day one, something smelled fishy.  The revelation of a previous sexual harassment charge and subsequent reprimand and reassignment reared its ugly head. And Alaskans were left asking ourselves, “Didn’t Palin vet this guy?”  If she did, obviously not well enough.  Kopp’s explanation, after his now iconic denial, “I am not a sex harasser!” was that no one had asked him, so he didn’t volunteer the information…figuring that everyone already knew.

So, is it possible that since no one askedSarah Palin if she was in the middle of an ongoing ethics investigation, she just didn’t feel obligated to volunteer that information?  I mean, no one ASKed her if she was, or what the investigation might find, or if there were any other skeletons in her closet that might come out and start dancing in front of the national media.   I mean all you’d have to do is read the Anchorage Daily News and there it all is.  They obviously knew and it didn’t bother THEM…so….why mention it?  And sitting in the private jet, flying out to accept the nomination, did she think “Oooo.  It’ll sound really good if I said I stopped that Bridge to Nowhere!  I’ll say THAT. No one will check, I bet.”

Because, now, a scant two days after the nomination, the “gates” are already starting to swing open:  Troopergate, Bridgegate, and now Babygate.  Babygate?  I’ve stayed away from this one because, frankly, I don’t know anything for sure, and I don’t want to speculate about the smarmiest of ‘gates’ yet.  I’ll leave that to the professionals at the National Enquirer.  The rumors, though,  say one of two things:  either Sarah’s new baby is actually NOT her baby at all, but her 17-year old daughter Bristol’s baby, or the new baby is hers, but Bristol, a senior in high school is now pregnant.  Ugh, either way.

If the first case is true, then the grandma governor has been perpetrating a blatant lie on her constituents, and now the world.  If the second is true, then what 44-year old woman in her right mind would have travelled so late in her pregnancy and after her water broke and labor had begun, delivered a speech in Texas, boarded an Alaska Airlines flight with a stop-over in Seattle and bypassed the two main Anchorage Hospitals that are minutes from the airport to deliver in the local hospital near her home, almost an hour away by car.  In either case, bad judgement.

But now the cleanup crew has started.  Palin’s praise of the Obama energy plan that was on her website?  Scrubbed.  Photos on the website during the time period she was supposedly to have been pregnant? Allegedly scrubbed too.  John McCain’s organized vetting team?  Supposedly on their way to Alaska right now.  (Note to McCain staffers:  Vet FIRST…it works out better that way.)  The National Enquirer?  Supposedly all over this already. Photos of the pregnant (or not) Palin are circulating everywhere. One thing is certain, the rumor mill has started, and there’s no getting this toothpaste back in the tube.

And if it’s true that Palin did not undergo a vetting process, then what are we all to think of a presidential candidate, the oldest ever, with a history of cancer, choosing a running mate he had spoken to only once before offering her the nomination, and not even vetting this candidate?  If this is true, then the choice was not ‘bold’ or ‘exciting’ or ‘a maverick choosing a maverick’.  It demonstrates not just poor judgement, but recklessness.

Keep watching because the Palin onion is going to be peeled in the national media in the coming weeks, layer by agonizing layer.  Welcome to Veepgate.

UPDATE:  Press releases of Palin’s response to Obama’s energy plan still available HERE (Hat tip to Clever Else)

Palin is McCain’s Bridge to Nowhere. Thanks, But No Thanks.

Perhaps the brain was still a little fuzzy from the shock of McCain’s new VP pick, Alaska’s own governor Sarah Palin.  Perhaps it was still stuck in the endless loop of wondering – why? why? why?  Whatever the reason, it took more than 24 hours for Palin’s first big untruth to register with me.

Today, while I watched her hop out of the “Straight Talk Express” bus, and give the second reading of her acceptance speech, one of my fellow viewers said, “You know, I don’t remember her opposing the Bridge.”  And it hit me.  I don’t remember that either.  A quick double-check with the third member of our watch party confirmed our confusion.  We all live here.  We all watch the news, read the paper, and pay attention to the local political circus, but none of us connected Sarah with her claims of rebuffing the controversial earmark.  If you weren’t watching, here’s the quote from her speech:

“I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that Bridge to Nowhere. ‘If our state wanted a bridge’, I said, ‘we’d build it ourselves’.

Reeeeally.

Check out these entries from the Ketchikan Daily News:

“People across the nation struggle with the idea of building a bridge because they’ve been under these misperceptions about the bridge and the purpose,’ said Palin, who described the link as the Ketchikan area’s potential for expansion and growth.

Palin said Alaska’s congressional delegation worked hard to obtain funding for the bridge and that she ‘would not stand in the way of the progress toward that bridge’.
8-8-06

‘We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative,’ Palin said.”
Ketchikan Daily News 9-28-06

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (currently under indictment) and Representative Don Young (currently under investigation) were the bridge’s two biggest proponents.  But they were unable to convince Congress to fund the infamous bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island at the levels it had hoped.  Now, instead of Alaska paying $160 million, the cost to Alaska skyrocketed to $349 million.

After federal funding had been slashed, Palin was asked if she was still in support of funding the project.  She said:

Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

Well that assistance never materialized, and Alaska’s congressional powerhouse is tumbling like a house of cards.  Senior Senator Ted Stevens is under indictment on seven felony counts.  Representative Don Young is under investigation and has spent more than a million dollars of his campaign fund on legal fees…and he hasn’t even been indicted yet.  And although Stevens just won his primary bid handily, Young is hanging on by his fingernails while a recount is performed to determine the winner of his contest.  His challenger?  Sean Parnell, Palin’s Lt. Governor and also the head of the Division of Elections that is in charge of recounting the votes for his own race.  You can’t make this stuff up.  The third member of the delegation, Lisa Murkowski, was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat by her own father, Senator Frank Murkowski who left the senate to become the governor that Sarah Palin defeated in the 2006 primary.  (Are you keeping up with me?)  I could keep going, but those are the highlights.

So, if Congress had gone along and coughed up what Stevens and Young had asked for, guess what….that bridge to nowhere would have become a reality during the Palin administration.  She supported the bridge every step of the way…until the funding was cut.  So we decided to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.  If we want a bridge we’ll build it ourselves?!”   Is that like the failed earmark version of “You can’t fire me….I quit!”

The fact that “Thanks, but no thanks” was the money line for her debut as Vice Presidential candidate, and yet is a total fabrication, makes the mind reel.  Is there no fact checker on McCain’s staff?

Today, Palin called in to a local radio program, and bubbled, “This is so amazeen!”  Then she said that her children and she had only learned of her selection the day before the announcement was made.  I think of the extensive vetting process that the Democratic VP candidates went through.  Evan Bayh said that he was grilled extensively about skeletons in the closet, and even whether any of his kids had a Facebook or MySpace page that might come back to haunt him.

Apparently the Republicans don’t worry about such things.  With all the potential scandals and skeletons about to emerge from the Palin closet, (troopergate, babygate, bridgegate) we in Alaska are sitting here listening to the clock tick and wondering when it will all hit the fan.

But many Alaskans are just giddy over the whole thing.  The local sportscaster, after reporting on the high school basketball scores, said, “You know Sarah Palin used to be a sportscaster….and she’s the Vice Presidential candidate.  So, I think I wanna do that…yeah.” (eyeroll)  And one woman who was interviewed said she was totally in support of Palin because, “This is really going to put Alaska on the map.  Now people are going to find out what we’re really all about.”

Because this is what we’re looking for in the next Vice President.  We want Alaska to be on the map.  And not in that little box in the South Pacific you guys always stuff us in.  This election is about Alaska’s road to legitimacy!  Sar-ah Sar-ah Sar-ah! (banging head on desk and going to bed)

UPDATE:

Looks like the Anchorage Daily News is now reporting this.  Read HERE.  Note to outsiders: the tongue-in-cheek reference Palin makes to herself as “Valley Trash” demonstrates a local ‘regional slur’, as it were.  Former State Senate president Ben Stevens (son of indicted Senator Ted Stevens, and currently under investigation himself) called what he perceived to be the under-educated redneck, rural population of the Mat-Su Valley where Sarah Palin is from, “Valley Trash”.

In the Land of Palin.

I’m off for the Labor Day weekend.  Little would I have known that my scheduled weekend away, right in the heart of Palin country (known to Alaskans as “The Valley”) would fall on the weekend she became one of our Vice Presidential nominees.  No, it still hasn’t sunk in.  I’ll be passing through Wasilla itself and will post more pictures when I return, and get some local reaction on the “day after”.   I’ll have internet access, though it will be dial-up.  Eek.

*********************************

UPDATE:  Just watched the back-to-back McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden rallies in the “rust belt”.  I was waiting to hear Palin’s second speech, but got the recycled speech from yesterday.  McCain’s intro was the same too.  Palin keeps referencing Alaska, which no doubt endears her more to her fan base here, but I keep asking myself….can people relate to Alaska gas issues?  When she talks about Juneau, do they even know that’s the capitol of Alaska? 

The most remarkable thing?  The McCain camp obviously hoped to endear themselves to the disgruntled Hillary supporters by choosing a female running mate. But when Palin saluted Hillary Clinton saying that she ran her campaign with ‘determination and grace’….there were Boos.  Lots of them.  I’m guessing that any Hillary supporters who had tuned in to check out the McCain/Palin party didn’t feel very welcome.  I doubt that they’ll mention Hillary again on the open road.  They won’t want to risk that again.  Maybe we’ll hear it at the convention where delegates will understand it’s strategically not good to jeer at the candidate whose votes you hope to win.

Then the Obama/Biden appearance.  Looks like they’re being cautious about Palin.  Obama referred to Biden as one of the great statesmen of our times.  They didn’t even have to say Palin for everyone to make that comparison in their minds. Then Obama made reference to the fact that he’d visited every state except Alaska, and that, come to think of it, he ought to visit now.  He’s been saying this for months, but nothing firm yet.  I think it would be great.  Obama got 75% of the votes in the Democratic caucus here, and the caucus site in Anchorage was packed.  People were literally having to park 2 miles away from the caucus site and ran in 5 below zero to make it in on time.  I know many people that couldn’t even make it into the building.  I think a huge rally for Obama would go a long way to show how much support he has in Palin’s home state.

In my trip throgh the Valley today, I didn’t see any McCain signs.  I wasn’t really surprised, as McCain came in a less-than-impressive fourth in the Alaska Republican caucus.  But I’m sure when the name Palin gets added, they will pop up like mushrooms overnight.  I did see a resurrected ‘Sarah Palin for Governor’ sign in front of a store.  The shopkeep said he cried with joy when he heard the news, and that she was a good woman who supported Alaskans.  Then he said that he had given up on all those ‘liberal socialists’ and decided they may as well all be ‘queer’.  I’m hoping that this is one of the more extreme reactions, and I was really glad I took the Obama sign out of my car window before leaving home. 

The only other person I’ve talked to so far is an Independant (over 50% of Alaskan voters are Independant or registered non-partisan) who said she was stunned by the announcement and added, “But she’s not qualified!” She also said that she didn’t remember Palin standing up against the Bridge to Nowhere.

More tomorrow.

Local Reaction to the Palin Bombshell.

 

I, like all Alaskans, have been glued to the news media today, watching with amazement as Sarah Palin was tagged as McCain’s vice presidential running mate.  Local radio talk shows are all a-buzz.  The progressive station has a mixture of callers who are amused, horrified, and bewildered.  The conservative station has a mixture of callers who are amused, enthusiastic, horrified and bewildered.  No one is really sure how this happened, or what to make of it.  Citing the fact that she was the mayor of Wasilla 2 years ago in her list of “executive experience” doesn’t even pass the giggle test in Alaska.  Palin does have many supporters here in the state, but even many of them are doubting whether she can cut it in the Veep slot.  A few callers have said they feel sorry for her, because they like her but she’s obviously being “used” and is way over her head.  Local politicians are fiercely divided.  Those who like her are generally appointees who are locally referred to as “Palin-bots” and have drawn comparisons to George Bush’s idealogical croneys.  Many, Democrats and Republicans, are fierce opponents.

Here’s a smattering of reactions:

Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (R): “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?”  (Green is from Palin’s home town of Wasilla.)

Alaska House Speaker John Harris (R): “She’s old enough. She’s a U.S. citizen.” 

Alaska Democratic Party Chair Patti Higgins:  “In this very competitive election for them to go pick somebody who is … under a cloud of suspicion, who is under investigation for abuse of power. It just sounds like a pretty slow start to me.  We need a vice president who can step in if, God forbid, something happened to John McCain.  I don’t think she’s someone who is ready for that 3 a.m. phone call.”

Randy Ruedrich, Alaska Republican Party Chair:  Not giving interviews.

Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg: “a mixed set of emotions, kind of an odd sense of Alaska nationalism or pride. This is like watching a moon landing or something. It’s just something you don’t expect to see very often. It’s wonderful. It was an emotional thing to see the governor walk out with her family and I say, wow, I work for her.”

McHugh Pierre, Alaska Republican Party Spokesman: “She brings her voice of new energy and change. And she knows Alaska.”

Indicted Alaska Sr. Senator Ted Stevens (R):  “it’s a great day for the nation and Alaskans.”

Andrew Halcro, local blogger who ran against Palin for governor:  “This shocking choice says more about McCain’s desperation than it does about Palin’s qualifications”.

and my favorite…

Alaska State Representative Mike Doogan (D): “Either Sarah Palin has talents and skills we were not aware of”, or “John McCain fell down and hit his head”.  He also called the prospect of Palin potentially needing to take over as President”pretty scary.”

Other local bloggers talking about this:

Progressive Alaska

Andrew Halcro

The Immoral Minority

and I’ve written extensively on Palin issues.  Just click on the Sarah Palin category and dig in.

What is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective.

Downtown Wasilla, Alaska

“Is this a joke?”  That seemed to be the question du jour when my phone started ringing off the hook at 6:45am here in Alaska.  I mean, we’re sort of excited that our humble state has gotten some kind of national ‘nod’….but seriously?  Sarah Palin for Vice President?  Yes, she’s a popular governor.  Her all time high approval rating hovered around 90% at one point.  But bear in mind that the 90% approval rating came from one of the most conservative, and reddest-of-the-red states out there.  And that approval rating came before a series of events that have lead many Alaskans to question the governor’s once pristine image.

There is no doubt in my mind that many Alaskans are feeling pretty excited about this.  But we live in our own little bubble up here, and most of the attention we get is because of The Bridge to Nowhere, polar bears, the indictment of Ted Stevens, and the ongoing investigation and conviction of the string of legislators and oil executives who literally called themselves “The Corrupt Bastards Club”.

So seeing our governor out there in the national spotlight accepting the nomination for Vice Presidential candidate is just downright surreal.  Just months ago, when rumors surfaced that she was on the long version of the short list, she was questioned if she’d be interested in the position.  She said she couldn’t answer,

“until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day. I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here….”

There is no doubt that Palin has fierce territorial loyalties.  When elected governor there was much concern because she came right out and said she would favor her own home town of Wasilla (where she was mayor) and its surrounding environs collectively known as “the Valley” while leading the state.  And it’s obvious from her statement that Alaska was on her mind when accepting the VP nod (see my emphasis above).

So what is it that we’re “trying to accomplish up here”?

• Palin is currently in the middle of a controversial gas pipeline project in Alaska.  She’s favored the ‘Trans Canada’ proposal that will run the pipeline through Canada, in effect shipping US jobs over the border.  Many Alaskans, including former governors, have favored the “All Alaska Route”.
• She is also suing the federal government over listing the polar bears as a threatened species.  The science was even compelling enough to convince the Secretary of the Interior that the bears needed to be listed.  But acknowledgement of this issue, and the potential disruption to development on Alaska’s oil-rich north slope spurred Palin to attempt to stop the listing.
• Does she want to open ANWR?  Yes.  Every politician in Alaska wants to open ANWR.  It’s basically a requirement if you ever hope to get elected for anything.  Even Mark Begich, the progressive Democrat running against the indicted Senator and Alaskan institution Ted Stevens, is pro-drilling.  That’s the sea we swim in up here.  There are a few anti-drilling folks, but you have to look hard to find them, and work hard to have them admit it.

Will all this wash with voters in the ‘Lower 48’?  Time will tell.

18 Million Cracks in the Glass Ceiling

It was obvious anyway, but became beat-you-over-the-head-with-a-two-by-four obvious when Palin referenced the ‘glass ceiling’ line, that this choice is a blatant pander to women.  I would like to believe that women will actually feel insulted by this.  Yes, it would have been historic if Hillary had gotten the nomination.  It was historic that she made it as far as she did.  Yes, it would be great to have a woman in the oval office, or in the VP slot if they are the right woman…a woman who got there with her own drive, grit, determination, intelligence, skill and merits.  When you’re hand-picked by a man to win votes simply because you are a woman, that doesn’t count, and it doesn’t break any kind of ceiling.  Would we have had a Stan Palin as our VP pick?  No.  So choosing a woman because you think her gender will get votes is insulting.

Governor “Squeakyclean”….or not.

Another focus of Palin’s introduction today was her reform image.  Listen to John McCain and you’ll hear about a maverick reformer who took on big oil, took on corrupt Alaska politicians, and whose ethics are unquestioned.

Alaskans really want to like Sarah Palin.  In a state where corruption is the rule, and the same faces keep recycling over and over and over again like a bad dream, a new face, with a promise of reform seemed like a breath of fresh air.  Palin defeated incumbent governor Frank Murkowski (father of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski who he appointed to his own Senate seat when he was elected governor) because he was such an obnoxious, bloviating, downright BAD politician.  This staunchly republican state voted with relief, not having to cross over and vote Democratic, but still able to get Murkowski the hell out of office.  In the general election Palin swept into office running against a former Democratic governor, Tony Knowles, who was capable but came with baggage.  And he represented to Alaskans more of the same, tired old-style politics, and special interests that we have come to loathe.

So, if McCain had made his selection six months ago, the squeaky-clean governor meme would have made a little more sense.  But, Sarah Palin is currently under an ethics investigation by the Alaska state legislature.  The details of this investigation read like a trashy novel, and I suspect that the players will soon have new found celebrity on the national stage.  I’ll try to explain for all you non-Alaskans who suddenly have good reason to want to know more about Sarah Palin.  For those of you not interested in trashy novels, feel free to skip ahead.  Here it is…what we in Alaska call “TrooperGate”.

Sarah Palin’s sister Molly married a guy named Mike Wooten who is an Alaska State Trooper.  Mike and Molly had a rocky marriage.  When the marriage broke up, there was a bitter custody fight that is still ongoing.  During the custody investigation, all sorts of things were brought up about Wooten including the fact that he had illegally shot a moose (yes folks this is Alaska), driven drunk, and used a taser (on the test setting, he reminds us) on his 11-year old stepson, who supposedly had asked to see what it felt like.  While Wooten has turned out to be a less than stellar figure, the fact that Palin’s father accompanied him on the infamous moose hunt, and that many of the dozens of charges brought up by the Palin family happened long before they were ever reported smacked of desperate custody fight.  Wooten’s story is that he was basically stalked by the family.

After all this, Wooten was investigated and disciplined on two counts and allowed to kept his position with the troopers.  Enter Walt Monegan, Palin’s appointed new chief of the Department of Public Safety and head of the troopers.  Monegan was beloved by the troopers, did a bang-up job with minimal funding and suddenly got axed.  Palin was out of town and Monegan got “offered another job” (aka fired) with no explanation to Alaskans.  Pressure was put on the governor to give details, because rumors started to swirl around the fact that the highly respected Monegan was fired because he refused to fire the aforementioned Mike Wooten.  Palin vehemently denied ever talking to Monegan or pressuring Monegan in any way to fire Wooten, or that anyone on her staff did.  Over the weeks it has come out that not only was pressure applied, there were literally dozens of conversations in which pressure was applied to fire him.  Monegan has testified to this fact, spurring an ongoing investigation by the Alaska State Legislature.  But, before this investigation got underway, Palin sent the Alaska State Attorney General out to do some investigative work of his own, so she could find out in advance what the real investigation was going to find.  (No, I’m not making this up).  The AG interviewed several people, unbeknownst to the actual appointed investigator or the Legislature! Palin’s investigation of herself uncovered a recorded phone call retained by the Alaska State Troopers from Frank Bailey, a Palin underling, putting pressure on a trooper about the Wooten non-firing.  Todd Palin (governor’s husband) even talked to Monegan himself in Palin’s office while she was away.  Bailey is now on paid administrative leave.

As if this weren’t enough, Monegan’s appointed replacement Chuck Kopp, turns out to have been the center of his own little scandal.  He received a letter of reprimand and was reassigned after sexual harassment allegations by a former coworker who didn’t like all the unwanted kissing and hugging in the office.  Was he vetted?  Obviously not.  When he was questioned about all this, his comment was that no one had asked him and he thought they all knew.  Kopp, defiant, still claimed to have done nothing wrong and said to the press that there was no way he was stepping down from his new position.  Twenty four hours later, he stepped down.  Later it was uncovered that he received a $10,000 severance package for his two weeks on the job from Palin.  Monegan got nothing.

After extensive news coverage about all this nasty behind-the-scenes scandal, which is definitely NOT squeaky clean, Palin’s approval ratings fell to 67%, still high, but a far cry from the 90% number that’s being thrown around so glibly by the Republicans today.  Alaskans are quickly becoming disillusioned once again.

“Executive Experience”

Before her meteoric rise to political success as governor, just two short years ago Sarah Palin was the mayor of Wasilla.  I had a good chuckle at MSN.com’s claim that she had been the mayor of “Wasilla City”.  It is not a city.  Just Wasilla.  Wasilla is the heart of the Alaska “Bible belt” and Sarah was raised amongst the tribe that believes creationism should be taught in our public schools, homosexuality is a sin, and life begins at conception.  She’s a gun-toting, hang ’em high conservative.  Remember…this is where her approval ratings come from.  There is no doubt that McCain again is making a strategic choice to appeal to a particular demographic – fundamentalist right-wing gun-owning Christians.  And Republican bloggers are already gushing about how she has ‘more executive experience’ than Obama does!  Above is a picture of lovely downtown Wasilla, for those of you unfamiliar with the area.  Behind the Mug-Shot Saloon (the first bar I visited when I moved to Alaska long ago) is a little strip mall.  There are street signs in Wasilla with bullet holes in them.  Wasilla has a population of about 5500 people, and 1979 occupied housing units.  This is where your potential Vice President was two short years ago.  Can you imagine her negotiating a nuclear non-proliferation treaty?  Discussing foreign policy?  Understanding non-Alaskan issues?  Frankly, I don’t even know if she’s ever been out of the country.  She may ‘get’ Alaska, but there are only a half a million people here.  Don’t get me wrong….I love Alaska with all my heart.  I’m just saying.

I, and all Alaskans will be interested to see how this whole process unfolds.  This is definitely a gamble for McCain, and in my humble opinion, a gift to Obama and to Joe Biden who just got thrown a big hunk of red meat for the vice presidential debate.

This is the wedge-issue, desperate ‘Hail Sarah’ pass of the McCain campaign.

Now I’m off to get some Jiffy Pop.

Sarah Palin? McCain’s Next Trophy Girl?

 

Well, this Alaskan is sitting here in disbelief.  This is a total gift to the Obama – Biden ticket.  As the nation scrambles to figure out who Sarah Palin IS, the thinking people of Alaska are simply mystified.  I’ll be posting about this a lot later in the day after I’m awake, (it’s early a.m. here in Alaska) but first impressions:

This woman is going to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency?  2 years ago she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.  For those of you out of state, this is as small, and backwoods as it sounds.  A dark horse candidate for governor, she was elected on the ‘anybody but Frank Murkowski’ ticket.  Our previous governor went down hard in his primary bid for reelection, because basically he was the worst governor, ever.  People questioned whether Sarah Palin was actually qualified to be governor of a state that has 1/2 a million people in it.

McCain obviously is looking for the Hillary vote since apparently he thinks women need no other criteria than a set of ovaries to mark their ballot, right?  I mean women don’t actually make policy decisions, do they?

He’s  also looking for the Evangelical vote.  Palin, a creationist, anti-gay, pro-lifer will appeal to this crowd.  Her fondness for creationism in schools, and the recent birth of a Downs Syndrome child can’t hurt here.

Did I say recent birth of a child?  Why, yes.  Our new Vice Presidential candidate has four children plus an infant son.  She obviously feels caring for her newborn won’t get in the way of her Vice Presidential duties. 

And don’t worry fellas.  There’s plenty for you.  Sarah won second place in the Miss Alaska contest! Didn’t they have a card for that in Monopoly?  And John McCain knows how important it is to have a trophy wife Veep on his arm.

John McCain has just done something that Obama has not been able to do yet – prove to the world unequivocably that McCain doesn’t have the judgement to be President.  He will never ever be able to hold his head up and say that Obama isn’t “ready to lead”.  

The pro-drilling crowd will be pleased too.  Why she’s even sueing the Federal Government for daring to suggest that polar bears should be listed as ‘threatened’.  Can’t have those damned bears interfering with the oil rigs.

And then there’s that annoying little ethics investigation by the Alaska State Legislature…

I think I’ll be chuckling all weekend over this.  More to come later.  There’s just so much fodder here.  Where’s a blogger to start?

Obama House Party at the PAC

Just got back from the Obama Watch Party at the PAC.  I decided it would be more fun to watch his acceptance speech in a crowd.  We parked on 5th Avenue, and as I got out of the car, I wondered how many people would show up.  The venue was the Discovery Theatre, so I figured they were expecting hundreds, but there’s always that fear at these things that you’ll show up and have a meager turnout.  The car parked right ahead of me had an Obama ’08 bumper sticker, which gave me hope.

As always, the Obama organization was smooth and well-planned.  The lobby was busy with attendees signing in and getting info packets.  House candidate Ethan Berkowitz arrived shortly after I did.

Assembly member Elvi Gray-Jackson was at the sign in table.

My fear of being one out of  8 or 9 other Obama supporters was completely unfounded.  I was pleased to see at least 400 people, maybe closer to 500 by the time the event started. 

We were all given packets with volunteer information, and 12 phone numbers of registered voters.  We were asked to see how many calls we could make before the speech started to see if people were planning on voting for Obama, and to invite them to watch the acceptance speech on CNN.  I was a good soldier and made all 12 calls.  When I turned in my sheet, I was rewarded with a cool little Obama pin with the big dipper in the background. Nice!

Ethan Berkowitz got up and gave an impromptu address the crowd before the speech started.  He said he wants everyone to vote “Obama – Obegich – Oberkowitz”.  Crowd laughed.

The speech was just astounding.  It was the perfect mix of personal narrative, policy specifics, and whacks on the knuckles of the knuckleheads.  The crowd at the PAC went wild, cheering, clapping, tossing beachballs, and even giving a standing ovation or two. 

It was really amazing to be sharing that moment in history with such an enthusiastic group.  The Republicans have got to be wringing their hands.  I don’t know how on Earth they will ever top this.  I’m sure it’s not an act they want to follow.

Between Convention Week, the Primary, and this incredible speech tonight, I’m overwhelmed and tired, and happy to be a progressive.  Next week the Republican convention will yank me back to reality, but for now I’m just going to enjoy feeling optimistic.

Alaska Primary Gallery

Here are some more pictures from last night’s Alaska Primary.  Still no winner in the Don Young/Sean Parnell fight to the death, and there won’t be for another couple weeks.  The absentee ballots will figure heavily into this epic contest, where the two are only slightly more than 150 votes apart.  Don Young is hanging on by his fingernails.  I came across another non-partisan who took the Republican ballot to vote for Young hoping he’d get taken out in the general election by Ethan Berkowitz.  If I came across four in the last 24 hours without even trying, there must be many many more out there.  And if Don holds on, it’ll be the progressives that let him live to fight another day.  That, plus a final surge of cash from the Democratic Party bashing Parnell.  Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows.

And, of course, Sean Parnell being the Lt. Governor is in charge of the Division of Elections which will be counting the votes…. Just when you think the knot couldn’t get any more tangled.

Alaska Primary Night at Election Central

Well, it’s no Democratic National Convention, but it was quite a show tonight. I listened to Hillary Clinton’s pretty darned good speech, and then took off for the Egan Center and Election Central. While circling for a parking spot the only person outside was a Nader guy. Gotta give ’em credit for trying. They’re kind of like the Ron Paul people, only their candidate is smart enough not to endorse Don Young.

Half an hour and a glass of Chardonnay later, the fun began. Whoops and shrieking in the hallway were heard and Les Gara made the first ‘grand entrance’ of the evening.

Then, the big guns (and the big signs) arrived. Ethan Berkowitz came in with an impressive entourage, looking pumped up and ready for the interviews.

By this time the numbers were really starting to come in up on the big board. It was obvious that all the ballot initiatives would go down. For a minute I just felt like going home and putting a pillow over my head. Then I remembered the bartender told me there was Tequila. But I just sat and watched for a while, making really sure the numbers said what I thought they said. Clean Elections was the worst…oh, excuse me….I mean “Public Funding of Elections”…which is precisely why it went down. The wording was enough to do it. And for this we can thank Sean Parnell.

And speaking of Sean Parnell… at this point in the evening, there was a mere 4 vote split between Lt. Governor Parnell and Congressman Young. I’m starting to think that the mini operation chaos might have had some effect. As a matter of fact, I ran in to three non-partisans who voted for Young in the primary so he’d go down in the general election.

It had also become obvious that Diane Benson wasn’t going to be able to win her match-up with Ethan Berkowitz. But, as usual, the woman who first took on Don Young with a credible and spirited campaign, handled herself well and was surrounded by a group of die-hard supporters.

The Gabrielle LeDoux and Linda Menard groups had filtered in earlier, with little fanfare. LeDoux was instantly marginalized by the 45-45 Young/Parnell horse race.

Menard won her district handily. Erick Cordero, her Democratic opponent in the general election was there too. He’ll have a tough road.

Then the man of the evening arrived. Mark Begich swooped in, followed by a huge sea of supporters with signs. He wasn’t on a white horse, but he might as well have been. The camera crews were crawling all over themselves to get an unobstructed view. The energy was through the roof, and the Begich crew were all smiles, fist pumps and energy. No sooner had he entered than he was whisked away from one news crew to the next for interviews. The flock of supporters followed dutifully, chanting “Beg-ich Beg-ich Beg-ich!” and “Go Mark Go! Go Mark Go!”

Then the Ted Stevens crew arrived.

Ted was in and to the news crew before anyone hardly knew he was in the room. He had a steely gaze and walked like he was about to miss a bus. He had a large crowd, but not as large as the Begich bunch. As Ted began his first interview with Channel 2, the rowdy excited chants of Beg-ich Beg-ich practically drowned out the interview. His sign holder stood behind him holding up a campaign sign and clenching her jaw. She stared off in the direction of the chanting crowd just 20 feet away and looked like she wanted to break something.

After a few minutes of this, it dawned on the Stevens crowd that all this enemy chanting was not a good thing. Someone weakly started a “Go Ted Go!” and a few others joined in. Sign holder kept giving the thumbs up, directing the Stevens crowd to pick up the volume (see below), hoping they’d drown out the Begich crowd that was so loud that Stevens was obviously raising his voice to be heard. It was almost painful to watch. And, of course, he was less than pleased when questions about the indictment came up.

The Begich folks relentlessly tailed the current senator with signs, and some even chuckled at the double meaning of the growing chants of “Go Ted Go!” from the Stevens camp.

The nail-biter at the end of it all was the Young/Parnell race. Undecided last night, it’s still up for grabs this morning. Currently Young has regained his lead, and come up from a 700 vote deficit, to a narrow 140 vote lead with 9 precincts left to come. Neither candidate was at the Egan Center. Don Young is in Fort Yukon, and Sean Parnell was down the street at his campaign headquarters, but never made an appearance. More thoughts and photos to come…

Operation Chaos, Alaskan Style.

Remember Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” where Republicans were instructed to switch over to the Democratic ballot in open primary states, and cast votes for Clinton? The idea was that Clinton would be easier to beat than Obama in the general election. Reports were mixed, but thousands of Republicans pulled the switcheroo just to stack the deck.

So, this morning, after voting, I asked my significant other, “So, who did you vote for?” I said this half-joking, knowing what the answer would be. Or so I thought. The answer came with a smile: “Don Young.”

I had to take the Democratic ballot, but my sneaky better half is a Non-partisan, chose the Republican ballot, and pulled the Progressive version of Operation Chaos. Recent polls show Ethan Berkowitz and Sean Parnell as a close match up. In the Don Young/Ethan Berkowitz match up, Young goes down like a bag of dirt.

I wonder how many others thought this through and did the same thing? A tip of the hat to you evil genius non-partisan Progressives out there. Go Don!!!

UPDATE:  It looks like those Operation Chaos folks may actually come into play in this race!  At Election Central the race has been neck & neck all night.  At one point only 4 votes separated the candidates.  It’s almost 2am Alaska time and right now Sean Parnell leads by less than 300 votes.  We’ll find out tomorrow.  I’ll post the results in the morning in addition to photos etc. from the evening’s festivities.

Alaska Primary Day

Don’t forget to vote today!

If you only fill in one of those little ovals, let it be Yes on 3. Regardless of your political affiliation, this should matter to you.

If you still need convincing, check out the videos on the Clean Elections website. They include famous Alaskans such as Walter Hickel, Vic Fischer and Arlis Sturgulewski, first time voters, political candidates and ordinary voters who understand that a Yes vote on Ballot Measure 3 is the most important vote they will cast in the next 20 years.