Below is the entire 2.5 hour GOP Senate candidate debate that took place in Homer last Tuesday, courtesy of the Joe Miller campaign. If you can’t find time to watch the whole debate, the intros, which start at about minute 3, will give you a pretty good feel for the candidates. Joe Miller, as he always is, is more articulate than his reputation would lead you to believe. Mead Treadwell is the newly minted, staunch tea party conservative—an ideological turn that’s designed to appeal to primary voters and for which most of the media has given him a free pass–and Dan Sullivan tries to save something for the general election.
Leave a comment and let me know what strikes you, particularly those who have time to watch the whole thing.
I only had time to watch the opening remarks of each candidate. I continue to be a strong Sullivan supporter, and I believe he is the only one in the race who can comfortably beat Begich (as the power of incumbency is very strong). Still, Joe Miller may best express what Alaskans believe about the federal government and the two political parties. Joe may continue to win every debate, at least those I have had time to see, but he is a lightning rod and cannot now win statewide office
Sealaska Corporation today came out endorsing Mark Begich according to Public Radio. I think that gives ample cover to allow these 3 candidates to oppose the Sealaska bill in Congress. I believe Joe Miller opposed the bill in 2010. Democrats supporting Begich can whine about HB77, falsely accusing Dan Sullivan of having a hand in that weak process, but if anyone is really concerned about hunting and fishing opportunities and rights of Alaskans they are protesting the Sealaska bill.
When Sullivan wins in November I hope he continues to want to be someone who tries to fix Washington. Alaska has a record of sending people there so they can become rich and powerful and in the process they come to believe that wasting federal money in Alaska in proportion to their power is all Alaskans expect of them. Begich of course has been even much worse than that, supporting Barack Hussein Obama, the least prepared, most inept, and unluckiest president.
I made an effort to sit through it but couldn’t. I felt it was too staged and that some of the candidates were too scripted and insincere. From what I saw, I think that there was only one possible candidate on the podium that could beat Begich. I hope that the voters in the GOP primary vote wisely and select a candidate that can and will replace Begich.
I found Mr. Treadwell to be either very disingenuous in his debate remarks. Once again, he claims credit for anything and eberything. For instance, he claimed credit for bringing natural gas to Homer. I was involved in this project and can honestly report that Mr. Treadwell did absolutely nothing that impacted gas getting to Homer. Next, he talked about working closely with the governor and his cabinet on national energy issues. Are you kidding me? Does Treadwell think that our minds are so feeble that we fogot about the letter that Parnell sent him in the early days of the administration basically telling him to butt out and take care of his sole responsibility of running elections? Why the media allows Treadwell to continually take credit for things he had absolutely nothing to do with is beyond my comprehension. Was I impressed with Treadwell? Absolutely not. I was offended by his lies, exaggerations and his attacks on both Miller and Sullivan. Treadwell lools and acts like an angry and sometimes confused old man; yet, he is petulant like a young and misguided child. His behavior certinly doesn’t warrant a seat in the United States Senate. That’s what my thoughts are regarding this debate. Compared to Treadwell both Sullivan and Miller were winners.
You got to admit that my man Joe Miller looked good during this debate. He’s the one candidate that says it like it is. I love this guy.
From my perspective, I think Dan Sullivan did an excellent job in this debate. As the front runner, he took punches from both Miller and Treadwell. He handled himself with dignity and strength.
Treadwell acted like and sounded like Mark Begich during the debate. It seemed like half of what came out of his mouth, came directly out of Begich’s play book. Treadwell has been a big disappointment to me this year. There are never, or should I say hardly ever, clear winners or losers in these types of forums. However, I really liked what Sullivan said and how he said it.
My ranking of the debate :
First place – Treadwell
Second place – Miller
Third place – Sullivan
I liked the way Mead handled Miller. He owned him. Made Miller look weak. That skill came from years of preparing for this race. Go Treadwell.
I have to tell you that I enjoy listening to Treadwell in forums and debates. He reminds me of a movie I saw not too long ago – – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In the movie it showed Walter always imagining his roll to be significantly greater than reality. If you listen to Mead, he’s responsible for creating the United Nations, the Roe v Wade decision, convincing Ronald Reagan to lift the natural gas export ban, getting Dan Sullivan his first job in Alaska, the passage of SB 21, and peace in the Middle East if there ever is one. The reality: as lite governor his only responsibility was to run the Division of Elections. In a recent coirt case, elections division staff doisclosed that he had no idea what was or wasn’t going on with the division, his one area of responsibility. Additionally, shortly after the election 4 years ago, Governor Parnell wrote Treadwell a letter telling him to stick with his official duties and keep his nose out of the operations of his administration. Consequently, I fail to see the basis or rational for his claims of success over the past 4 years. Before that, he was a Deputy Commissioner for 4 years where the highlight of his service seemed to be a reprimand from the state ombudsman for acting unethically in his official capacity. The other claims? Well, I suggest they’re similar to the imaginary exploits of Walter Mitty. To me, this is how Treadwell came off in the Homer debate. Joe Miller shared his ideas and beliefs articulately and with conviction. Dan Sullivan talked about his successes that appear to have significantly more basis than his imagination and his vision for Alaska’s future. Bottom line: none of it mattered. Few saw the debate and the media basically ignored covering it. With the exception of this political blog, the Alaska media seems to have forgotten that there is a senate race in Alaska this election year. Hopefully, they will wake up and realize that Alaska could well determine the control of the US Senate. Makes it worth paying attention to. Still an undecided voter. At this point, I’ll have to see who emerges from the Republican primary and watch them and the incumbent mix it up. Thanks for the post.
I think Joe Miller did a fine job at the debate. In many respects, I think he would make a much better Senator than Mr. Begich. The reality, however, is that Joe’s negative is too high and would be toast against Begich. Just as Treadwell would be. So, while I want to support Joe, I’m going to vote for Sullivan because my primary goal is to get rid of Begich and hopefully democratic control of the senate. I’d like to see Joe run against Don Young. Young has been around too long and has become out of touch with Alaskans. Back to the debate: Sullivan proved to be knowledgeable, senatorial and respectful as was Joe Miller. There is a self-serving mean streak in Treadwell that repulses me. I thought his theatrics in the debate in his attempt to over power Joe with sophomoric techniques lacked appeal. I also want to say that I appreciate and admire the service that both Joe Miller and Dan Sullivan have given our nation.
You’re wrong. The video has been posted yesterday. I watched it thie morning at it’s the same questions and stupid attacks as the other forums/debates, just at a different location.
One, the video hasn’t even been posted long enough for you to have watched the whole thing, and I doubt you Sullivan people were there – had you been there, you would have seen that Dan got put in his place yet again by Joe Miller on Stand your Ground. Even Mead, a UN agenda 21 guy, knew more about the state then Dan did, now that’s saying something
I thought Joe Miller looked best with a close second place finish by Dan Sullivan. Mead Treadwell came off as a bitter and angry man at times. Other times he sounded delusional if you paid close attention and thought about what he was saying.
The debate is very interesting. I’m glad you pointed out that Treadwell had reinvented himself to appear to be a conservative. It wasn’t that long ago that Mead gave $$ to liberal Democrats that were strong advocates for gay rights and the pro-choice movement. The guy just doesn’t have a moral compass. This debate clearly shows that he is self-centered and his focus is 100% on the primary. He has no plan or hope of winning a general election. In fact, I believe that Treadwell’s behavior suggests that he is doing everything possible to help insure Begich’s reelection. His attacks against Sullivan and Miller are both classless and have no basis. He simply has become a parrot for Mark Begich. His claims of successes are only true in his imagination. I do believe that imagination, fantasy and a hallucinogenic spirit is representative of the Treadwell campaign. Today, one of campaign workers posted on FB that Santa Claus had endorsed Treadwell’s campaign (#leadwithmead). This Republican is disgusted with Treadwell, his lies and constant negative attacks on his fellow Republicans. I don’t think Alaskans are interested in a politician that lives in the gutter. I’m for #anyonebutmead.