• The biggest non-story story circulating Alaska story of the moment is that U.S Senate candidate Dan Sullivan was considered a Maryland resident from 2006-2008 according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. The HuffingtonPost pointed out that Sullivan filed paperwork with the FCC that he was a resident of Alaska for the past 17 years. KTUU, the Dispatch, the Mudflats and many more outlets are reporting on this; each with their own take on the implications. As many know, Sullivan left the state after 9/11 to work at the White House and the State Department. He took his wife and children with him. A marine, he was called into active duty from 2004-2006. According to the Alaska Division of Elections, you’re “considered an Alaska resident if you reside in the state and intend to remain here or you leave with the intent to return.” But nobody should allow such facts to get in the way of a good attack, and while they’re at it, offend thousands of Alaskan residents who are now or who at one time served outside of the state.

• The Dispatch’s Nat Herz has a good primer on tonight’s Senate debate on fisheries in Kodiak. Senate candidates Sen. Mark Begich and Dan Sullivan square off at 7:00 p.m., Word is that Begich, who knows fisheries much better than Sullivan, is expected to take this one. That debate is followed by Rep. Don Young and Forrest Dunbar. Listen live here.

• The Ketchikan Daily News is sponsoring a governor’s debate starting at 11:30 today. Follow live tweets here. 

• Could the future of the U.S. Senate be determined in the Mat-Su? Yes, if I don’t say so myself, and I do in Politico, where I analyze the current state of the race.

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Forums and debates that both Sen. Mark Begich and GOP challenger Dan Sullivan will be participating in:

• Wednesday, October 1, Kodiak Chamber of Commerce (Kodiak)
• Tuesday, October 21, Soldotna Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum (Soldotna)
• Thursday, October 23, Resource Development Council Candidate Forum (Anchorage)
• Friday, October 24, Alaska Federation of Native Candidate Forum (Anchorage)
• Tuesday, October 28, Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce Forum (Fairbanks)
• Wednesday, October 29, KTUU Channel 2 Debate (Anchorage)
• Thursday, October 30, Debate for the State  – Alaska Public Media (Anchorage)

Addition forums and debate that Begich has agreed to participate in:

• Tuesday, October 14, League of Women Voters and Anchorage School District Student Forum (Anchorage)
• Sunday, October 26, KTVA Ch. 11 and Alaska Dispatch Debate (Anchorage)
• Monday, October 27, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum (Anchorage)

You can read straight news stories about the debate between Gov. Sean Parnell and “unity” candidate Bill Walker here, and here, This account, from a reader, who obviously favors Gov. Sean Parnell, is also interesting:

Fun debate in Juneau today. Parnell has an improved style, and he certainly won the day.  Walker sometimes seemed confused…. The audience, about 250 people, were much more with Parnell.  No bombs were dropped.  Nothing shocking was revealed….Parnell quoted Walker from some Sept. 5 radio show in which Walker is to have said he would cut 16% – $224 million from personal services costs – the first year in office.  Parnell asked where Walker would make the cuts  to achieve that level of reduction.

Walker answered, “I will ask the departments to work smarter.” That doesn’t answer the question for me.

Both candidates are voting for the minimum wage increase and against the marijuana legalization, and they gave reasons that revealed no differences between the candidates. Both candidates favored keeping the capital in Juneau but Walker went a little further and said he would require all commissioners to live in Juneau, and the audience liked that.  Continue reading →

Today’s mail. #aksen pic.twitter.com/9XaB0Iwpgt

— Ben Rowell (@benjaminrowell) September 30, 2014

Unlike the DSCC ad below, here’s an ad featuring icon Bella Hammond endorsing Sen. Mark Begich,that will likely be effective:

I highlighted this ad from the DSCC attacking GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan on women’s issues in the news roundup, but thought it deserved its own post. Certainly women in Alaska need to know where Sullivan stands on these issues, but I have mixed feelings about how effective this particular ad will be. What do you all think?

• The AP reports that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Walker/Mallott merger will not be appealing last Friday’s ruling that the Unity ticket is valid.

• The DSCC has released a new ad targeting U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s anti-choice stance and support to empower employers to deny coverage for birth control.

• Governor Sean Parnell’s lawyer as well as his policy director Randal Ruaro have used Sen. Mark Begich’s Jerry Active ad as one reason not to release documents pertaining to the Alaska National Guard scandal to Alexandra Gutierrez with APRN.

• KTVA’s 11 Daybreak interviewed U.S. Sen. Mark Begich during a live, sit-down chat about Syria, November’s ballot measures, attack ads and public debates.  According to KTVA, U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan has been invited to Daybreak, but hasn’t yet responded.

• Alaska’s polling issues have piqued interest in the UK. UK  Progressive has a piece written by Sam Wang that delved into the consistent problems pollsters have when trying to get an accurate portrayal of Alaska’s shifting political landscape.

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Today was a day of endorsement-hedging. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski declined to say who she’s supporting in the governor’s race, and gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker, a Republican who is running as an “unaffiliated” candidate with Democratic blessings, as well as with the endorsement of Sen. Mark Begich, declined to return the favor.

Sen. Murkowski defends ads endorsing Sen. Candidate Dan Sullivan. “In an election, you have to take sides.” #Alaska #Ch2KTUU

— Adam Pinsker (@AdamPinsker) September 29, 2014

Q.: Will you endorse in the Alaska governor’s race? A.: “I don’t know.” — Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

— Kyle Hopkins (@kylehopkinsAK) September 29, 2014

Q. “Who are you voting for in the Alaska governor’s race?” A. “I’m not going to tell you.” — Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

— Kyle Hopkins (@kylehopkinsAK) September 29, 2014

Here’s the party breakdown of absentee ballot requests as of Friday, Sep. 26:

In Alaska, about 27 percent of voters are registered Republicans, about 14 percent are registered Democrats, and about 54 percent are nonpartisan/undeclared. Although the numbers for Republicans look good, keep in mind that Republicans in Alaska traditionally vote absentee at a much higher rate than do Democrats. What’s also interesting is that neither party seems to be working that huge swath of nonpartisan/undeclared voters.

• Sen. Mark Begich released a new ad simply titled “Margie,” featuring Margie Brown, former President and CEO of Cook Inlet Region, Inc. In it Brown expounds on the amazing work Sen. Begich has done to help the over 3,000 jobs in the telecommunication field here in Alaska as both mayor and senator. She also mentions how great Begich and Sen. Lisa Murkowski work together, which will likely further rankle Murkowski. 

• The first of many Alaska state races previews: Senate District E.

• Senior political writer, Harry Enten, with FiveThirtyEight offers advice on how to read the tea leaves in the recent U.S. Senate polls. His take; Alaska has been a fairly stable race with Sullivan winning “by a couple of percentage points,” as of Friday.

• While California’s public pension fund has decided to stop investing in hedge funds, Opalesque reports that Alaska’s Permanent Fund Corp. is sticking with their current strategy.

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In Senate District E, Republican Sen. Mike Dunleavy is being challenged by Independent candidate and former Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Warren Keogh. (Both have released web ads, which are below.) The district encompasses House Districts 9 and 10. It isn’t a district for anyone with fear of distances. It stretches from south of Cantwell down the Parks Highway to Houston, runs out to Skwentna, north to the city limits of Wasilla and Palmer, then up the Glenn Highway to Glennallen, goes just north of Delta down to Valdez, and through the tunnel to the City of Whittier. Just the drive between Delta and Wasilla is about six hours.

Dunleavy, towering above his Senate colleagues at 6’7″, is known as a strong conservative, whatever that means in Alaska these days. He was elected in 2012 by defeating incumbent Sen. Linda Menard in the Republican primary with more than 57 percent of the vote. He was unopposed in the general election. Prior to his election to the Senate, he was a teacher, school superintendent and school board member.

Keogh, a former Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman and resident of Chickaloon, is running for the Senate seat as an Independent. He is a Vietnam vet, a retired firefighter and paramedic, and is known, either fairly or unfairly, as an environmentalist for his opposition to coal mining in the area. Continue reading →

Sarah Palin wowed the crowd while speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington D.C. on Friday. Among other things, she said that she understood, first hand, how Christian conservatives were treated by liberals and the “lamestream” media:

The lies that they tell about you, calling you the intolerant ones, the haters, the bigots.  Oh, and that disgusting charge of being racist.  I’m speaking to the most slandered group in America today. Join me in telling the lamestream media that we wear their scorn with pride …They scream racism just to end debate.  Well, don’t retreat.  You reload with the truth, which I know is an endangered species at 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Oops. 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue is the address of the Willard Hotel. Depending on what search engine you use, it’s also the address of the Peacock Alley at the Willard, which is a place you can have a nice dessert with a cup of tea.

It’s times like these that make you wonder what we ever did without twitter. Here’s just a sampling:

#At1400Pennsylvania where PaulRevere is always “ringing those bells”! Sarah Palin, historical revisionist.

— cheerio grrrl (@cheeriogrrrl) September 26, 2014

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In my opinion, the best ad of the political cycle so far hasn’t come from the fancy East Coast ad firms who make millions on these things. It hasn’t come from any of the statewide candidates, nor from any stuffed super-PAC. Rather, in my opinion, the best ad so far has come from Democratic state House candidate Marty McGee, who’s running in an open seat in West Anchorage. He’ll face Republican Liz Vazquez in the general. Because of the crowded media field, the ad is only playing on the web for now.

McGee was a life-long Republican until he was fired by Gov. Sean Parnell from the State Assessment and Review Board, which is responsible for assessing the value of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. That number determines property taxes for municipalities along the TAPS route. Tens of millions are at stake. McGee wanted a higher number. The oil companies argued for a lower number. Parnell initially filled his spot from someone from California with ties to the oil industry until he withdrew from consideration.

None of this is mentioned in the ad. Instead, it focuses on the personal, including on McGee choking-up. But what Josh Corbett–the local videographer who’s working for the Dems this election cycle–does particularly well are the small touches: the old work-boots, the daughter’s hoodie, the over-grown lawns, the weeds, the idiosyncratic house. It feels real, in the best way.