- Politico partnered with SocialSphere Inc. to conduct their latest survey from 840 likely voters in states with competitive Senate (yes, including Alaska) and/or House races across the U.S. The intent of the survey was to track opinions over the final six months of the 2014 election cycle. The overall nuggets of interest show that 44% of those polled were going to vote for the Democratic candidate and 41% for the Republican candidate. On a current hot topic: 43% likely Republican voters and 81% of likely Democratic voters polled felt “a lot” or “some” confidence that the U.S. “is doing everything possible to contain the spread of Ebola.”
- Read all about who’s more interested in walking holes into the soles of their boots than watching “Kinky Boots.”
- TalkingPointsMemo declares that St. Paul Island is going to be the remote part of Alaska that determines the fate of the U.S. Senate. How much smaller and remote are future articles going to get in the battle over the Senate? I say that the patrons of Skinny Dicks Halfway Inn are going to decide the fate of the world.
- Meet the other two U.S. Senate candidates, whose names will be appearing alongside U.S. Senator Mark Begich and main challenger Dan Sullivan. KTUU’s Grace Jang has an article detailing Mark Fish and Ted Gianoutsos’ background and their individual campaign focus issues.
- The Hill is reporting that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell intends to use the last of the lame duck session to pass necessary legislation so the assumed 2015 GOP led Senate has a “clean slate” to begin their new legislative agenda.
- With the failure of Fairbanks’ Proposition 2, the Fairbanks News Miner reports that the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has to submit a plan to the federal EPA by the end of the year detailing how it “can reduce Fairbanks’ chronic wintertime air pollution to meet federal standards set in the Clean Air Act.” Look forward to 2015 being the year of public comment and review regarding Fairbanks air quality.
- Rachel Maddow put together a list of five angry punk songs to get us through the midterms. Apparently she wasn’t thinking about Alaska because there’s nothing on the list by Resident Evil.
- More information about Uber, how Anchorage might face struggles regulating this new form of paid transportation and details about the next Anchorage Assembly hearing on this issue is all found in this article by Sean Doogan.
- The Washington Times reports that the Supreme Court has denied Alaska’s request for a stay.
- Nathaniel Herz has an in-depth article about U.S. Senator Mark Begich’s final two-week push for victory on November 4. Herz also examines Begich and Sullivan’s campaigns’ successes and missteps.
- RollCall has a piece explaining Crossroads GPS’ latest ad attacking U.S. Senator Mark Begich. The ad in question is titled “Six Years” and focuses on Begich’s failure to gain party support to open ANWR.
- Katie Moritz with the Juneau Empire had a sit-down interview with U.S. Congressional candidate Forrest Dunbar going over topics like ISIS/ISIL, pot, and the federal government’s role in Alaska.
- Politico examines the impact that the drop in oil prices will have in the energy sector and on the global markets.
- The Alaska Commons covered the Ballot Measure 1 educational forum from last Friday.
- Sean Parnell has had it pretty rough in the press. But Juneau Republican grand dame Paulette Simpson comes to his defense in the Juneau Empire in a nicely penned piece about the governor and about the Walker-Mallott ticket. “One does not have to agree with Parnell on policy and politics, but it’s impossible to argue that he is not an honorable, hard-working and dedicated public servant,” Simpson writes. “Certainly, no Alaska governor has expended more political capital on the messy and intractable issues of domestic violence and sexual assault.”
- The Hill reports that FBI Director James Comey wants to update a twenty-year-old law regarding police and officials’ (government) access to private cellphone and other communication devices’ information. It is expected to have very little support from the general public, as more people better understand the importance of their rights to privacy and comprehend how the information on their communication devices could be unfairly used against them.
- Best quote of Sunday goes to Congressman Don Young. At a fundraising event yesterday he told attendees “I’m out there knocking on doors and kissing babies, as long as they’re 18 years old.” Lovingly tweeted and shared by Nat Herz.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Too bad the Juneau Empire did not ask Forest what his role has been in the sex abuse charges in the Alaska National Guard. As an Officer, you would think he would make it a point if he actually did something to solve a seriously flawed organization problems. Voting Don Young!
BREAKING NEWS. New electoral analysis now says that the elves working at Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska could well determine the outcome of the Alaska Senate race and thus the United States Senate. According to MSNBC, the elves will be supporting the initiative for a higher minimum wage, Parnell for Governor, Sullivan for Senate, and Dunbar for Congress. Yes, that’s right. Remember, they have the list and they know who’s been bad or good. Here’s their list: Parnell – a good man, who does okay as governor, doesn’t swear and tries to attend church regularly; Walker – bad to the bone (not really), but, it is troublesome how quickly he is to walk away from his principles and values for political expediency and gain, tells too many lies and tall tales; Begich – liar, liar, liar; Sullivan – decent man, honorable, and cares abouit people, good father and veteran; Young – crotchety and mean, physically hurting and grabbing people; Dunbar – nice, sincere and earnest.
But remember, there’s gonna be a couple of beers, some shots of whiskey and plenty of cheap wine consumed at Skinny’s before they vote. God bless America, Alaska, the elves and Skinny Dick’s.
Amanda, love your spoof characteriization that Skinny Dick’s customers could well decide the fate of the US Senate. How fun. Good poke at all the crazed national journalists that visit our state occasionally.
Maybe CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS should all have remote trucks there on 11/4.
That and one resident of Eagle River Alaska.
Prop 2 failed in Fairbanks. Wake up Rep. Tammy.
Here is what I see: “In the congressional districts and states where the 2014 elections will actually be decided, likely voters said they would prefer to vote for a Republican over a Democrat by 7 points, 41 percent to 34 percent. A quarter of voters said they were unsure of their preference.”
ALEXANDER BURNS | 5/19/14 5:02 AM EDT Updated: 5/20/14 12:54 AM EDT
I’m not sure if ‘leaners’ are allocated in this or not. As you can see the undecided is at 25 percent and to me, this late in the game that seems a bit high.
Here is a link to the Pie Chart:
http://images.politico.com/global/2014/05/18/poll_web.jpg
Wow Amanda! Are you trying to tell me that “Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn – St. Paul Island” could be in the headline used to describe where the Senate race was won or lost?
I like your news wrap-up a lot. It is particularly useful, especially since I’ve given up my subscription to the Dispatch. I did so, primarily, because I was becoming fatigued with their bias and unprofessional coverage. This is my polite way of complaining and suggesting that you might want to consider leaving their soiled rants off the pages of your site. Most of their articles that you have included recently seem to be filler more than relevant. The great attribute of your news wrap column is that it gives me the news that’s valuable in a very efficent and concise format. The Dispatch seldom recognizes nor practices the delivery of valuable, efficent or concise news coverage. Worth considering for the benefit of your readers.
@Ah Ha. This is what I see:
2014 Election Vote With Leaners Allocated
Democratic candidate (incudes KS-I)….. 44%
Republican candidate……………………….. 41%
Don’t know………………………………………. 14%
Am I reading the poll results incorrectly or did Amanda mis-report the results? When I followed the link she provided it shows that if the election were today the vote would be 41 percent republican and 34 percent democrat.
The poll you referenced hardly amounts to a hill of beans. Because of the sample size re Alaska the erroe variance must be in the realm of ±25%. Ridiculous.
I usually ignore polls but the one you referenced here could hardly be less useful. They polled 840 voters across the country, 8% of whom are in the Pacific. That’s 67 voters to cover Alaska, Oregon and 7 Congressional districts in CA. That’s silly; why even bother?