I found myself in a van with a load of kids on a road trip to the Valley today. Needing a fun car game, I remembered Phil Munger’s Signs of the Times post from a few weeks ago. So, I suggested we all count political signs and see who ‘won’ by the time we got back. We counted signs from ‘downtown’ Sutton to Eagle River.
So, as an homage to Phil Munger at Progressive Alaska, I present my own humble Valley version of Signs of the Times:
Ted Stevens (R) Senate: 2
Mark Begich (D) Senate: 4
Don Young (R) House inc: 4
Sean Parnell (R) House: 4
Ethan Berkowitz (D) House: 0
Diane Benson (D) House: 0
Linda Menard (R) State Senate: 7
Eric Cordero (D) State Senate: 0
And 1 each for Parks, Scott and Gatto for State House.
So, Palin-bot Linda Menard was our winner.
The big surprise here is not only did we see twice as many Begich signs as Stevens signs, but that there were actually signs north of Palmer for a Democrat without bullet holes in them! Progress can be measured in many ways.
The other noteworthy observation was that one kid in the back of the van said, “Hey! How come there aren’t any Obama signs? or McCain signs?” They were answered immediately by an adorable little 8-year old girl with a big smile who called out matter-of-factly, and like she had just remembered something important, “Oh! McCain sucks!” Luckily I was not drinking my coffee at the time or I would have blown it all over the windshield. It was all I could do to keep a straight face. Signs of the times? Let’s hope so.
Mudflats 
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