From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage–

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell isn’t saying what office he will run for next year.

But he questioned the chances of his old campaign foe, Don Young, being re-elected.

Parnell told me in an email today that he acknowledged the past effectiveness of Young, Alaska's lone representative in the U.S. House. But Parnell said he was surprised by Young's decision to file yesterday to run next year for his 20th term in Congress.

“Where Don Young’s own Republican members of the House took away his clout by removing him from committee leadership, Young will be hard pressed to explain why Alaskans should send him back in 2010,” Parnell said.

In December, after winning re-election, Young agreed under party pressure to relinquish his committee leadership until his legal problems were resolved.

Young said yesterday that he’s still the best person to be Alaska’s Congressman, as Alaskans decided by re-electing him last year (he beat Parnell in the Republican primary by just 304 votes than defeated Ethan Berkowitz in the general by over 16,000 votes.)

So what are Parnell’s plans?

”I’ll be a candidate for statewide office in 2010 as I want to continue serving Alaskans,” he said.

That’s a pretty broad statement. It could mean he’s running again for lieutenant governor, gunning for governor (presumably if Palin doesn’t run), taking on Don Young in a rematch, or running against Lisa Murkowski for U.S. Senate.

Parnell said a formal announcement would come at a later date.