A happy Mike Dunleavy towers above family and fans on election eve/Craig Medred photo
A news analysis
Five quick takeaways from the 2018 Alaska election:
Number one: Two Alaskas
The rural-urban divide is bigger than ever in the 49th state, but the idea that a statewide candidate needs to win the Bush to succeed is history. Republican Governor-elect Mike Dunleavy and running mate Kevin Meyer carried only a handful of small, rural voting precincts, but their power in the Railbelt and the Kenai Peninsula gave them a big victory. The 50,000-foot view of the state election map tells it all:
Number two: The danger of good intentions
Well-intentioned environmentalists naive as to the politics of the 49th state may have set salmon protection back years if not decades. Almost all fisheries biologists agree the habitat protection standards in Title 16 of the Alaska Fish and Game code need updating, probably most especially as they apply to small-stream standards in developing urban areas where the protection of salmon habitat has been often overlooked. Instead of trying to amend the law in the Legislature, however, salmon advocates decided to take to the ballot in an effort to make sweeping changes that would have allowed ordinary citizens to challenge almost any development involving water anywhere for any reason.
Some saw Proposition 1 as, at best, a lawyer employment act or, at worst, a new plan to lock up Alaska by shutting down any sort of future development, starting with death to the long-proposed Donlin and Pebble mines.
As a result, Prop 1 didn’t just go down in flames; it burned to the ground. Only about a third of Alaska voters backed it, and again the big-picture state election map offers a telling visual.
Outside the Bristol Bay/Kotzebue River region, the hotbed of opposition to Pebble, and northern Southeast Alaska, an area dominated by the liberal enclave surrounding the state capital in Juneau, there was very little support for the measure.
Number three: The company you keep
The ghost of the late Sen. Ted Stevens and the reality of independent Gov. Bill Walker might have driven a stake through the political heart of former Alaska Sen. Mark Begich. Going into this year’s governor’s race, many saw the Democrat’s late entry into the campaign as a preparatory step toward a 2020 effort to win back the U.S. Senate seat Dan Sullivan took away after a tightly fought competition in 2014.
That election went undecided for a couple of weeks with the race close enough that Begich wanted every vote from every outlying area counted before conceding. In the end, he lost the election by 7,700 votes to the state’s former Attorney General.
This year it was all over before midnight.
By then, Begich was down almost three times as many votes with only a handful of remote precincts left to count, and Dunleavy had won a statewide majority, something Sullivan had been unable to accomplish. He garnered only 48 percent in a race in which two, third-party candidates siphoned off about 7 percent.
This time, Begich began in a serious three-way competition with the Walker “Unity Ticket” and Dunleavy. The Unity Ticket blew up after Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott apparently tried to proposition a teenage girl through her mother. Details on what happened have been pretty well covered up, but Walker in the days before the election told KTUU news that the “victim” in the case was not the teenager.
Whatever happened, Walker told Mallott, the one time head of the Sealaska Native Corporation, that he needed to resign. Mallott quit and went into hiding, while the collateral damage took out Walker.
His negatives already large before the Mallott affair, Walker read the handwriting on the wall after and withdrew from the race, narrowing the field to Begich and Dunleavy. But Walker didn’t leave the stage. He took an active role in supporting Begich.
The support of the least popular governor in the country doesn’t usually help anyone’s campaign. And Alaska voters weren’t in some sort of lukewarm, well-we-could-have-a-better governor state of mind with Walker. Oh no, a majority of Alaskans flat-out disapproved of the governor. A lot of people wondered from the start why he even attempted to run for re-election.
And then there was the ghost of Stevens, the longtime Alaska senator Begich bested in 2008. Only about three months prior to the election, Stevens was indicted by a federal grand jury on corruption charges.
Stevens protested his innocence and stayed in the race. Begich leveraged the accusations to help pull out a 3,700-vote victory.
Stevens was subsequently convicted, but a later investigation found federal officials withheld information in order to frame Stevens and his conviction was vacated.
An already iconic Alaska figure, the image of “Uncle Ted” as many in Alaska knew him only shone brighter after he was cleared. It took on Godly status after he died tragically in a 2010 plane crash while still trying to fully rehabilitate his reputation.
Some in Alaska still blame Begich for some part in Stevens’ downfall, though the Democrat had nothing whatsoever to do with the FBI case against Stevens. The lever he used on it, however, follows him.
And now, as a two-time loser, a comeback in the Senate would be doubly hard.
Number four: Toughen up
Unfortunately for Democrat Alyse Galvin, Alaska is no place for the weak. She this year looked to have the best shot anyone has had in a longtime at unseating 85-year-old, 23-term, Republican Rep. Don Young.
Some early polls showed her neck-and-neck with Young in the race and steadily gaining, and then they shook hands after a debate at the convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives.
It turned out to be the handshake felt round the state.
“The final moments of a recent debate led to the most buzzed about encounter of the campaign,” Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins later wrote. He then described Galvin “reaching to shake Young’s hand. As they make contact, Galvin says ‘Please don’t hurt my hand’ and winces, telling Young he hurt her.”
Regularly confrontational and acerbic, Young was something of a gentler version of President Donald Trump long before Trump even thought about entering politics. But Young’s rough-and-tumble style is offset by the excellent constituent services provided by his Washington, D.C. staff.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them….
Young keeps getting re-elected because tens of thousands of Alaskans – Republican and Democrat – have found him, and his staff has helped them in battles with a faraway federal bureaucracy. Almost everyone in Alaska has been helped by Young or knows someone, or multiple people, who have been helped by Young.
The idea of replacing him with a woman intimidated by the handshake of an 85-year-old man – “Don Young uses death-grip handshake against Alyse Galvin,” liberal, Fairbanks blogger Dermot Cole breathlessly headlined – apparently didn’t do much to endear Galvin to Alaska voters.
Though one poll actually showed her leading Young on the weekend the Daily News handshake story appeared, she was way behind early on election night and stayed there. Young took 53 percent of the vote in the end.
Number five: No more Mr. Bad Guy
Bogeyman politics was supposed to be the undoing of Dunleavy. The Dunleavy opposition tried to tie him to his wealthy brother and to hugely successful Alaska businessman Bob Penney, one of the founders of the Kenai River Sportfishing Association and because of that the favorite target of Cook Inlet commercial fishermen for decades.
Bob the Bagman has been their mortal enemy since he helped get Democrat Tony Knowles elected governor in the 1990s. Penney came under fire again in this election cycle.
“Meet the two men who have spent $700,000 trying to make Mike Dunleavy Alaska’s governor,” Alaska Public Media headlined only a week before the election. The story below the headline was fair and balanced, but other stories and advertising weren’t.
One radio advertisement claimed Dunleavy had a plan to turn the Port of Alaska (formerly the Port of Anchorage) over to brother Francis who would then boost port rates in order to get even richer off Alaskans.
The ad was built on the groundwork Cole laid in summer. He called the Dunleavy advocacy group funded by Francis and Penney a “shadow campaign” and took issue with the U.S. Supreme Court’s “astonishing claim that unlimited ‘independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption, or the appearance of corruption.'”
Cole blasted the Court’s “naive view of communication and ignorance about what it takes to coordinate with a candidate.”
Because of such naivety and ignorance, he wrote, “Anyone can start a shadow campaign and put unlimited amounts of money to work buying influence. Just keep the candidate out of the formal process. No matter how much is spent, the activity will never give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. The Supreme Court tells us so.”
Cole cited Francis’s connection to a JP Morgan investment firm’s manipulation of electricity rates in California and the Midwest.
“Some have compared this to the much more costly ENRON debacle of 2000-2001,” Cole wrote. Cole provided no hint as to who the “some” might be. ENRON was a huge, national scandal that led to company shareholders filing a $40 billion lawsuit and a federal investigation that led to the indictment of 11 Enron executives, and three people who profited from working with the company.
Company president Jeff Skilling was eventually convicted on charges of conspiracy, insider trading and securities fraud, and spent 11 years in prison. Company founder Kenneth Lay was convicted of 10 counts of securities fraud but died of a heart attack before he could be sentenced.
Neither the evil brother accusation nor the Bad Bob claim appeared to stick to Mike Dunleavy, however. He collected the most votes in the parts of the state where news and advertising consumers were most broadly exposed to those accusations.
And he carried all of the precincts in or near the Kenai River and nearly all of the precincts on the Kenai Peninsula. Either nobody there cared about his association with Bad Bob Penney, or there’s a silent majority of non-commerical fishermen who don’t think Penney is that bad.
Categories: News
I can’t wait for Cotten and his minions to be relieved of their duties. I feel the disastrous sport fishing seasons we’ve had in the last 4 years are tied to ADFG management policies.
I don’t know why carberrey’s comment doesn’t have a reply badge but I will reply: he presents the essential Trumpists reply these days to anything factual. Notice how adroitly (he thinks) he gets technical (he thinks) about what trump said and then ends by it all being magically okey dokey BECAUSE! that’s just the way powerful men are. It’s OK, don’t you see? All powerful men are pigs. After all, it’s their gawd given right!
You completely and entirely disgust me.
Monk, the difference is you are an easily offended SJW, who blames any and everybody for their hand in life. You show your ignorance daily by thinking Obama/Democrats have both Americas and your best interests in mind. “All powerful men are pigs”! What are you, some brainwashed college girl? Grow-up. You sound stupid. I assume you must align yourself with freeloading losers with a comment like that.
Cranberry happens to be one of the more educated, well spoken people here. The ingredients of a “powerful man”. Maybe you can learn something instead of blaming others for your failures.
Bryan,
You do realize Matthew is suggesting it is OK for “powerful” men to do what they want to women, cause as he says: “powerful men _can get away with_ without objection”…
And this is in response to Trump’s crotch grabbing comment of attractive women.
It is ludicrous to think we are degrading so fast with our humanity as Americans.
Orwellian State…
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”—George Orwell
Steve, have you already forgot the Bill Clinton years? I’d say this decline you speak of started with him. Besides, the majority of these women who surround themselves around powerful men profit from these “mutual” encounters. To think these girls are just some innocent, naive, wallflowers is laughable.
Bryan,
The “decay” of family values at the WH started way before “saxophone bill” stepped on stage…
Remember JFK and his pool party’s with young female interns and why Jackie O was forced to wear dark glasses and consume pills and vodka to keep her nerves in check?
I would say that Mr Clinton took the position to a whole new level with his pal Epstein’s help…
“Take a look at the flight roster of the billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of prostituting dozens of underage girls and ended up spending 13 months in prison on a single count. He flew political insiders from both parties and the business world to his secluded Caribbean island, known as “Orgy Island,” on his jet, which the press nicknamed “the Lolita Express.” Some of the names on his flight roster, which usually included unidentified women, were Bill Clinton, who took dozens of trips”.
The big difference here is that Trump is speaking his degrading comments about women to our general population of citizens.
These thoughts resonate with sick folks throughout America….even with “non powerful” types.
What goes on behind closed doors with consensual parties is way different from the POTUS standing in public and announcing his bigotry to all.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/scum-vs-scum/
Steve, I cannot argue with most of what you say – EXCEPT – you should feel proud to finally have a president to call those lying women what they are – LIARS. Bit tacky I agree but, glad Trump has the New York City balls to do it. Also, beetch-slapping that idiot Acosta with the microphone should have gotten high-5’s from you. I mean, Trump crushes the 100yr status quo and you complain. Trump had the balls (again) to peel back the bandage and expose the growing infection (Washington) that has been consuming it’s host (us). You claim to be from PA. If you have ever been to NYC you would understand Trumps delivery.
Bryan,
I am from PA (born in the same town of Scranton as Mike Dunleavy)…
Some of my best friends in college lived in NYC…
One buddy now works for FDNY.
Sure they all had “edge” but the rhetoric of Don Trump is wearing me out….
Even caused me to give up on the Republican Party after 20 years of voting and support.
Calling a liar out in public is different from ignoring a reporters question.
The “caravan” of migrants was not an “invasion” these are mostly women and children who are walking with nothing but the clothes on their backs….they are not “armed” or militant.
WTF has ever happened to COMPASION for fellow mankind in distress?
If I was POTUS, I would have directed the red cross to work with Mexico and get some drinking water, food, and tents down there….maybe coordinate with Mexican authority to prevent a crisis from further loss of life.
There is a current civil war/ drug war throughout central America right now….cartels have taken over (with our CIA’s help).
Acosta is the one with balls and I support him in his fight…since when were “wranglers” of the press a part of our national debate.
Does anyone who asks an unfavorable question now lose his “press pass”?
This stinks like the former USSR and authoritarian regime to me.
Steve, isn’t it funny this invasion of peaceful “women and children” openned fire on the Mexican police and then broke down barricades coming across the Mexico boarder? Compasion? Are you kidding me? These lawbreakers circumvent the law with help from Democrats and you call them “women and children”. Why are they wearing gang scarfs, shooting guns, and throwing rocks? I think you need to do more research on these lawbreaking thugs.
Also, it is customary for a WH reporter to ask ONE question and receive ONE answer and then yield the mic to other reporters – and not ask 4 questions. Acosta is a typical CNN idiot and hack. https://www.breitbart.com/border/2018/10/30/armed-migrants-in-caravan-opened-fire-on-mexican-cops-say-authorities/
Bryan,
Breitbart is a good site for “old farts”.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/the_americas/bandaged-feet-bleeding-hands-violent-coughs-the-caravan-takes-its-toll/2018/11/01/d0330d90-de09-11e8-b732-3c72cbf131f2_story.html
Steve, what did this invasion of “bloody feet and swollen bellies” (as you say) do when Mexico offered them jobs and medical, etc..? Raised their middle fingers and said “they’d take their free cheese in America”.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-caravan/central-american-caravan-moves-on-in-spite-of-mexico-jobs-offer-idUSKCN1N10Q8
Bryan, were you born deficient in the human qualities that make for discernment or did you just destroy them on you own?
Steve, we have also spent hundreds of billions of TAXPAYER FUNDS on the 10’s of millions of illegals who entered the USA ILLEGALLY and are here NOW.. How much more compasionate do we need to be? Why don’t you travel to El Salvador with all your compassion and make their home a better place?
Well said Bryan . Thanks for standing up for all Americans. America by statistics is the most generous nation in the world . We donate more money to social causes than any other . Americans have the right to have nice paying jobs and feel safe in their homes. That’s what trump is trying to protect. His nations families. These people in caravans are not here to help Americans they are coming for their own reasons. Trump is doing his hard job to take care of Americans. Bottom line is trump is trying to protect / look out for each and every one of us . If he allows people into local neighborhoods that don’t respect law he endangers his Americans which would be mis management of his position and technically he could be liable for crimes committed against his people by the outsiders . By technical definition if the caravaners come in illegally they can be considered invaders . They invaded Mexico. Breaking fences to trespass on land they don’t own . Acosta was wrong , he knows it . He knows the definition of invasion. An unwelcomed advance / trespass ect . He also knows it’s against American ethics to hit a young unarmed woman . He knows when his turn was up . He has purposely created a hostile work environment . The president is well within his rights to revoke . Period . In my opinion Acosta should be in prison for hitting that young woman. Acosta wants to be the news . He is not helping Americans. He was just seen on camera twisting the truth and hitting a woman . Not good . Indefensible. Not a grown mans actions . Immature. As trump says many many times . Immigrants are 100% welcome ! They must come in legally and follow laws like the rest of Americans. Thats the socially responsible method . Millions are welcome if they follow law . Trump has distinctly said this . Anyone who doesn’t understand that isn’t being honest with themselves. Or They are twisting the narrative for their own gain just like Acosta . Don’t listen to the twisted news . Listen to common sense and what people actually say .
Webster’s third international dictionary. Invader – one that invades .Invade #1 to enter in a hostile manner . #2 to encroach intrude or trespass on #3 to penetrate in the manner of an invader . To push into . A migrant who pushes down fences and crosses land illegally and enters a country in the same manner as an invader pushes himself into the same bracket as other types of invaders . They define themselves when they enter illegally. Acosta is educated enough to understand English comprehension. He knew what trump meant he just wanted to argue for arguments sake . Huge attempt to make a scene and color a man who works for free as a bad guy by twisting our emotions. Acosta is technically a bad man and it’s shown on tape . Twists words , hit a woman , hogged the mic past his turn.
What a crock!
Definition of traitor? Definition of patriot? Who do you care most about? Your children? Countrymen? Your family? Your neighbor? Your friends? Who deserves your protection? Who deserves your money and time ? Who deserves American tax money for medical care ? Food ? Jobs ? American Citizens or criminal aliens? Where is your loyalty? With limited resources choices must be made . Who gets first choice? Why alow law breakers a pass ? Is lack of education a valid excuse? It’s not in America when a law is broken. Are these immigrants skinny or ragged like refugees? No they all have good body fat and good clothes. Who complains about a blister ? Why are their camps left strewn in trash when they leave? Did Ellis islanders mostly follow our immigration law ? Yes they did . Following our laws is the right way to start is it not ? If someone breaks a law to get in are they likely to disrespect other laws? If someone breaks into your yard or house is that ok ? Should you let them take what they want? Just a few of the Questions that a true leader must consider. Who are you loyal to ? A leader must consider whether it’s safe to risk his citizens and their vulnerabilities. Where must his loyalties lay ? Just thoughts to consider.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/trump-and-macron-meet-whats-left-to-talk-about/2018/11/10/680a014c-e1ec-11e8-ba30-a7ded04d8fac_story.html?utm_term=.0c02b22ab691
Some patriot!
Bill you are totally not thinking hard on this . You truly show your naivety with that link . When was last time you traveled 3,000 miles to visit a war memorial ? You smear trump ? Becouse a reporter claims bull pucky about trump watching tv ? Have you ever had to worry about being asasinated ? Every body wants trump . He has stirred the pot . You are smarter than to smear him in this way . Gauranted trump had viable reason . Maybe he was sick or forewarned? Guaranteed he didn’t want to sit and wait for weather after flying 3,000+ miles . You spread such false garbage . You hate trump so bad you can’t even think reasonable. Sad .
The man is an embarrassment on the World Stage.
I suspect his “bonespurs” were acting up.
Nice bill . At least there’s a probability you might be right ! I like your humor! Well said !
Bill,
Maybe Trump was upset by Macron’s comments earlier in the day?
“Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values.”
“I know there are old demons which are coming back to the surface. They are ready to wreak chaos and death,” Macron warned at a ceremony in Paris. “History sometimes threatens to take its sinister course once again.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/F2D58794-E604-11E8-8F9B-6FA2F328F481
I am now bullish on Alaska’s economic future. While the L48 has been experiencing the Trump Boom, Alaska has been stuck in a Obama/Walker economic malaise. It is morning in Alaska once again! God Bless Mr. Dunleavy and the Alaska Legislature.
I believe you are correct in that he will need some Divine help.
No Borders! No Walls! No USA at all!
You probably believe that your God would bless a Border Wall, too. Heheh!
I’d be interested in the total dollar amount spent on Prop 1 – by industry and by the greens. Particularly interested in laundering campaign cash thru the Keeper, Trustees, and the other non-profit backers.
Other takeaway is the unions didn’t do all that well. One example was Jason Grenn here in ANC.
I did like the speed, agility and humor that the pro-Dunleavy groups handled attacks. It is long past time we had a little humor up here. Cheers –
Two words that no candidate mentioned: Small Business.
Why?
Cause in this new Amerika, there is only Corporate Fascism and Government funded “jobs”…like more police.
Too bad the reporters were mostly “echochambers” that were bought off by Super Pac funding.
The Citizens United case has changed the face of democracy forever in this nation.
Hopefully Mike can write all those large PFD checks that he promised, but I would not hold your breath…
You’re Racist! Death to all white people!
https://youtu.be/XwIJup6FMlI
Start a small business Steve..Nothing stop you except innovation.
6th Lesson: Alaskan Natives have short memories. Take away a big chunk of their income, the PFD. They will think you are the white devil.
Then later put on a kuspuk and dance with them. They will forget about the white devil and sing songs of praise about you.
Unacceptable comment James. I am very tolerant of other’s right to comment, but in this case I believe that your comments have a racial and ethnic overtone. If I were an Alaska native I would be quite offended by your stereotyping.
James: I’m going to echo that comment. You well know memories have nothing to do with race. White people, black people, brown people, yellow people, all have short memories when they want, and they all have a bad habit of also holding grudges.
That stereotype is as bad as this one which appeared in an Alaska newspaper a few days ago: “Natives have excellent b.s. detectors.”
That’s the kind of comment the “good” racists of this state make. Yours sound more like the kind the “bad” racists make. We have a lot of racists in Alaska. I’m going to hope you’re not one of them and that was just a reflection of a bad day.
Honestly Craig,
James’s comment may have been a bit “below the belt”, but when we have a POTUS in charge who admits to grabbing girls crotch and stated: “when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!”
These are not the comments of a proud “statesman” in charge.
You also allowed the GOP operative “Bryan” to bash commenters for months filling this site with hate speech and irrelevant bashing of Democrats that are no longer in political office and had no relevance to recent stories or comments.
There is an old childhood saying: “What is good for the goose is good for the gander”.
Steve: i don’t have the time for constant policing. i let a lot of the political BS go. racism is a different matter. you get to pick your politics; you don’t get to pick your race or ethnicity.
Steve, you could at least quote Trump correctly, and in the context of the comment. The context, however classless and vulgar, was clearly discussing a benefit of being perceived as rich and/or powerful by _some_ women in, in that case, the entertainment industry.
Trump: “…I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”
(Billy)Bush: “Whatever you want.”
Trump: “Grab ’em by the p****. You can do anything.”
While he was, and appears to remain, vulgar and classless, he was talking about things rich and powerful men _can get away with_ without objection*, not something he actually did in any particular case.
* Study after study confirms that attractive people, including attractiveness due to wealth, fame, and power, can in fact do the very same crass, even criminal, things as less attractive people, yet not have their actions be resented, or even noted as wrong. Human beings are not purely rational.
Matthew,
I never miss quoted POTUS.
The quotation I used is where he called kneeling NFL players “Sons of Bitches”…that is real and very bigoted in my opinion.
As for the grabbing crotch comment, well no quotes were used and you seemed to find the exact exchange where he referred to grabbing p**** as you quoted…
Yesterday, Trump called a black PBS reporter “Racist” when she questioned his use of Nationalism….
Next long time CNN correspondent to WH (Jim Acosta) has his press pass pulled after a personal attack by Trump for his questioning of the president’s rhetoric.
Wa Po online is currently calling the WH an authoritarian state.
Where do you see this demigod/dictator taking the country with his constant inflammatory comments and personal attacks?
Hint there was another mass shouting in CA today….and the shooter was an ex marine.
PTSD Nation!
https://youtu.be/zdFe-LmFRV8
James, I am going to say the same thing I’d tell racist Don Lemon about us white “devils or terrorists”. Show me the statistics. I mean wow, if it wasn’t for white people creating electricity, airplanes, cars, modern plumbing, sending man to the moon, medical advances, etc.. where would we all be? Grass huts? White “devils”. Now that is rich. Haha. Your poor twisted, naive, brainwashed world you live in..
Until something better comes along after all the tea leaves have been turned, sifted and tasted, I’d say this is as good an explanation of what happened in Alaska yesterday as any. Your analysis of the defeat of Ballot Measure 1 feels right to me, although perhaps you could have pointed out that the Legislature, the place where we would normally hope that habitat protection would be encoded in law, is not moving on the issue. I’ve heard that laws enabling such protection have been bottled up in this or that committee. And while I’m glad to see you don’t blame Begich for Stevens’ conviction merely weeks before the election that made Begich Senator, it’s still the truth that he carries and always will carry that negative baggage. I mean, Galvin got more votes than Begich! And what a folly that handshake complaint was, proving that the smallest moments, the unguarded revelatory incidents, can affect months of work. What I take away from 2018 is that there is a Dunleavy majority coalition that will be in power for some time to come. In the same way that, nationally, a Trump coalition has formed and found itself (and likes itself very much), the new governor leads a cohort that is ready to put a thorough conservative stamp on Alaska governance. Depending on how they do, they could be in power for some time to come.
could be a lot of our “resident” fishermen aren’t actually registered to vote in Alaska, Steve-O; or it could be they have other businesses that Prop 1 would cause problems for; or it could be they’re not the enviros they’d like everyone to believe they are; or it could be some combination of the three.
I was honestly surprised that the vast majority of the commercial fishing areas voted so overwhelmingly against prop 1. I expected SE, Valdez, Cordova, Homer, Kodiak, and BB to be huge prop 1 supporters that didn’t happen. Most fishing went hard against prop 1.
There is also a 6th lesson for future candidates in Alaska…
Have a large enough campagain budget, so that you can buy advertising on ALL media sites throughout campagain/election cycle.
Good luck Mike!
I agree, the 6th Takeaway is the size of the campaign fund. Folks need to follow the $$$ trail!
Another way to describe that map is that the green areas are where people work for wages or profits, and the yellow areas are where people work for or live off the government – with some exceptions for some places where people vote the way they do out of habit and tradition.
We don’t always agree, Art, but this time you drove the nail full depth with one blow!