Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is expected to announce this afternoon that he’ll be running against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), setting up a political battle between an iconic figure in Alaska politics against one of the rising Democratic stars statewide.
Begich has called a news conference for 2:30 p.m. EST to “announce his plans regarding the United States Senate seat held by Sen. Ted Stevens,” according to a campaign statement.
This should be a great race.
I would rate this race as a pure toss-up at the moment.
If Ted Stevens continues to get into legal trouble, it will hurt his chances. On the other hand, if the Republicans can find a non-corrupt party member to replace him, the Republican lean to the state would help their chances. Back to the original hand, I’m not sure there is a non-corrupt Republican in Alaska.
If Young and Stevens are the Republicans on the ballot I don’t see how we can lose those races. Great news. Hopefully we can start to turn Alaska blue.
A while back the Harris poll showed that Young (especially Young) and Stevens are unpopular. 30% said that they would not consider voting for Stevens. 40% said they would not vote for Young. Those are pretty sweet numbers for challengers Berkowitz and Begich.
OH HELL YEAH!!! Ted Stevens would be running against a young, formidable challenger in Mark Begich, while trying to defend his sleazy ways and ridiculous spending on bridges to nowhere and research on sleeping habits of squirrels. GO MARK
Mark Begich’s father was Congressman Nick Begich who was killed in a plane crash on Oct 16, 1972 while campaigning for re-election, along with majority leader Hale Boggs. The wreckage was never found.
Question: Is there any residual statewide feelings in Alaska for the Begich name? or is 36 years too long ago.
Oh, and the man who replaced Nick Begich? Don Young
(interesting note. According to Wikipedia: “The accident prompted Congress to pass a law mandating Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) in all U.S. civil aircraft.”
So at least a little something good came out from that tragedy.)