U. S Rep. Don Young reported raising $131,258 in the 2nd quarter of this year, which runs from April until the end of June. He spent $236,784, leaving him with $589,812 cash on hand. His challenger, Democrat Forrest Dunbar, raised $36,500 during the same time period and has $30,603 cash on hand.
Dunbar, a first-time candidate, mined the numbers for some good news. Most of his money has come from 303 individual donors, and about 90 percent of it from Alaska donors, his campaign said. In contrast, Dunbar says that only about 20 percent of Young’s money has come from Alaskans and that “the vast majority” has come from lobbyists and federally-registered PACs.
It’s not surprising that Young would out raise Dunbar. What might be surprising about the numbers is that so far at least, the national Democrats haven’t donated or seemed to have taken an interest in the 29-year old Dunbar, who, for such a young candidate, has a good, solid resume though you might not know if from the videos he’s released. He’s clerked for former Sen. Frank Murkowski. He’s been in the Peace Corps, has a Yale Law degree, a master’s from Harvard Kennedy School, and is a first lieutenant in the Alaska National Guard.
Young recently received a “letter of reproval” from the House Committee on Ethics, which combed through his records since 2001 to look for evidence of misuse of campaign funds. The committee said that Young did not act “corruptly” or in “bad faith” and ordered him to pay back contributors and his campaign fund about $60,000. It’s pretty weak brew, considering the thousands of reports they went through. But add that to the faces Young made during a hearing on the House floor while an Iraq war vet was being discussed, and now reports that Young might be in trouble with the Capitol Hill police for barging through a barricade, and a pattern that’s potentially ripe for his opponents begins to emerge.
However, it takes money to get traction on such things, and Dunbar doesn’t have much of that.
Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
I don’t think it matters if Forrest raises as much as young, I think it matters if he has enough resources to reach the entire state. Looks like not yet, but at the rate his campaign is picking up speed, it seems likely by October. He’s certainly the best candidate for the job. Is this when I say “run Forrest run!” ?
Representative Young has become iinefffective and marginalized. Its time for a change. I wish Joe Miller would have challenged him.
Those numbers aren’t all that bad and it’s early enough in the campaign that Joe Miller has a shot at the R nomination for Senate.. the national dems could still be planning something against Young in favor of Dunbar. I’ve seen his campaign sign waving, and seen him at more than one community event.. I’d say he has more chance beating Young than Mallott has of beating Parnell.
I think Dunbar can keep Young busy iin the general which will help elect Begich. Run Forrest Run.
I caant imagine the DCCC is going to get excited about some political gadfly who raised $36000 in the 2nd quarter. I suspect that some state house candidates did better. No question, Don Young may be vulnerable; however, not to the likes of this guy.
This article wasn’t representative of most of your work and appeared more bias than you normally write. This guy is a clown. While I wish he was more substantive, he’s not. The Democrats had many better candidates; however, they don’t see Young as being someone that can be taken out. Two or four years from now when Don retires, I suspect you’ll see a more formidable D running. Until then, welcome to the circus.