Alaska Primary Election Today

The day of reckoning is here for candidates and four ballot measures in the Last Frontier. Polls are open from 7 AM to 8 PM local (11 AM to 12 AM EST). The first results come in at 9 PM local (1 AM EST) ... you bet I'm staying up for this one. I might even nap through dinner time and get up to catch Hillary's speech beforehand.

Here's a summary of the races to watch ... I won't be endorsing candidates, but I will speak out against three of the initiatives. If you want to see a smattering of Alaskan ads, here they are.

U.S. Senate - Republican Primary: With a trial coming up in late September, Ted Stevens is still the favorite in this primary among six other candidates. Former legislator and bank president David Cuddy, who ran against Stevens in 1996, has been seen as the alternative; but his campaign has been quite unexciting. Vic Vickers moved up from Florida and claimed residency starting this January and started running anti-corruption ads; rumor has it that he was a Democrat plant. Think what you may of him, but after the indictment, Stevens came out swinging and the amount of positive response to Ted was nothing short of amazing.

U.S. Senate - Democratic Primary: Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich will run away with this one, but not without getting bruised by former GOP legislator, Alaska Republican Moderate Party leader and now registered Democrat Ray Metcalfe who has been exposing Begich's ties with local real estate developers.

Congress At-Large - Republican Primary: This is the race to watch! Lt. Governor Sean Parnell had been the early favorite, but Kodiak State Rep. Gabrielle Ledoux has run three admittedly good ads which put her from 1% to 10% of the vote in the latest polls. It might be because of that that Don Young and Sean Parnell are within the margin of error. While Sean has received the endorsement of Gov. Sarah Palin, I tend not to put a lot of stock into any endorsement, no matter how popular the endorser. Plus, I'm actually more impressed with Don's ads than I am with Sean's. The Anchorage Daily News' gossip column called Don vs. Sean "Mr. Bluster vs. Mr. Bland."

Congress At-Large - Democratic Primary: This pits establishment candidate Ethan Berkowitz against Diane Benson, who received 40% of the vote against Don Young two years ago. Berkowitz was minority leader for many years in the State House, and ran for Governor two years ago before dropping down before the filing deadline to be Tony Knowles' lite gov candidate. Haven't seen any polling, but Berkowitz seems to be the favorite. I won't be surprised if Benson keeps it close.

Ballot Measure 1 - Establishment of a Gaming Commission: Gambling is the ultimate social conservative vs. libertarian issue within our party. But no matter what your feelings on gambling, you should be against this ballot measure. It essentially creates a commission that will license all gaming in Alaska, and it takes power away from the legislature and the people to decide whether or not they want an expansion of gambling. We can fight over the ends, but the means (creating more bureaucracy and rent seeking) are bad.

Ballot Measure 3 - Public Financing of Campaigns: The proponents call it "Clean Elections," but everybody knows that public financing has nothing to do with elections or its cleanliness. See my previous post on why all public financing initiatives should be defeated.

Ballot Measure 4 - Water Regulation of Mines: This is by far the most convoluted, deceptive and defective initiative in Alaska's history. Extremist environmentalists who have been against any resource development in Alaska have targeted a mining project called Pebble Mine. While they say it's dangerous for salmon fisheries in the area, they have decided to write an initiative that would affect all new and existing mines. People were so confused with the initiative that the State of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources came out with a website explaining how the initiative could affect current regulation of mining. The point is this: if you're against the mine, use the multi-year multi-faceted environmental process that is in place to make your point known. Do not try to attack all mines if you have legitimate concerns about one mine. Rumor has it that many of the opponents of Pebble Mine have tried to use bully tactics to get to other mine operators. Even the New York Times has an editorial on it today. Don't believe the hype!

Those on the east coast: set your alarms to 1 AM and go back to sleep at 2.