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Thursday, March 02, 2006

AK-Gov: What's up with Tony Knowles?

Posted by DavidNYC

A couple months ago, I wrote about the possibility of Tony Knowles running for Alaska governor. (Knowles was a popular former governor who was term-limited out - but the limits no longer apply to him as he's now sat out a full term.) Chris Bowers' gubernatorial roundup got me thinking about this race once again, and I realized I haven't heard anything about what Knowles is up to.

This Anchorage Daily News article from Feb. 17th included the following tidbit in the final paragraph:

The wild card on the Democratic side is former Gov. Tony Knowles. The two-term governor has not said whether he plans to run, nor has he filed a letter of intent with the state that would allow him to begin raising money.

AK-Gov is really in flux right now. Super-unpopular (26-69 approval rating) incumbent Frank Murkowski hasn't yet announced whether he will seek re-election. If he does, he'll have to face several fellow GOPers in a primary. I'm thinking it's looking pretty bad for Murkowski now, considering that his own Lieutenant Governor is considering jumping into the race.

Meanwhile, another more recent ADN story (Feb. 24th) mentioned this nugget toward the end:

Told by a reporter that some Democrats would like to see former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles vie for his seat, Young said he would take that fight in a heartbeat.

"I guarantee you I (would) beat him, and then he's dead politically forever. That's it," Young said.

Knowles couldn't be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

This might, of course, just be wishful thinking on the part of Alaska Democrats, who must be bloody sick of Young after 34 years in Congress. Moreover, I doubt that Young is in any way vulnerable right now - at least, not in the way Murkowski so clearly is. I don't think this would be a wise race to enter for Knowles. If he does want to think about Congress, he might want to wait a bit. He's not a young man, but he is ten years younger than Young (who is 73, and surely must be thinking about retiring soon). Moreover, Sen. Ted Stevens (who is ten years older still, 83) may retire at the end of this term in 2008.

As to this year's Governor's race, though, Knowles really needs to make up his mind soon. It's not fair to the Dems already running in AK-Gov to keep them on tenterhooks, as they almost certainly would have to drop out if Knowles enters. On the flip-side, donors are probably playing "wait-and-see" with Knowles and may not contribute to the current candidates if TK doesn't clearly state he's not running. Personally, I like Knowles a lot and I hope he does jump in. But I'd like to know what's what soon.

Posted at 11:17 PM in 2006 Elections - State, Alaska | Technorati

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Comments

Heck, it's only been about 14 years since Young had a serious challenge.

Although I can see how Knowles v. Young could be seen as a risky move by Knowles.

In a more fair world, somebody like State Sen. Donald Olson (D-Golovin) would be tempted to run. Although, I don't know of any red flags for Olson, but I'd guess that the whole Golovin being in the middle of nowhere thing could work against him.

All I know is that I'd prefer somebody who didn't host his campaign site on Tripod (like a certain candidate who shall remain nameless)

Anyways, it's nice to have somebody good on deck in case Young turns out to be really corrupt.

Posted by: RBH at March 3, 2006 12:30 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I thought I read somewhere about Don Young being implicated in some kind of Abramoff scandal. Or something. Damn, I'm sorry for being so vague, but I swear I read about it on Dailykos, and I commented asking if Tony Knowles might consider taking on Don Young. There are so many Republican scandals swirling around that they are quite literally too hard to all follow.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at March 3, 2006 01:57 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I found it:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/10/221413/121

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at March 3, 2006 02:08 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I would rather have TK run for the Senate in 08 agenst Ted Stevens which will probibly be an open seat. Need new talent in the Gov. race.

Posted by: D in FL. at March 4, 2006 03:29 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment