Alaska Politics Blog : Democrats still looking for someone to take on Lisa Murkowski

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Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

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Alaska political corruption

When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

Democrats still looking for someone to take on Lisa Murkowski

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: May 6, 2010 - 2:39 pm

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

The Democratic Party is still hoping to field a challenger for U.S. Sen.Lisa Murkowski, with less than a month before the deadline for candidates to file.

“Several people are seriously considering it,” said Deborah Williams, the executive director of the state party.

The Alaska Democratic Party convention is this weekend. The convention is traditionally a time for candidates to rally the base, and energize party activists to work on behalf of their campaigns.

At this point, Frank Vondersaar is the only Democrat running against Murkowski. Vondersaar last ran for the Senate in 2008, describing his candidacy at the KAKM "Running" debate thusly:

“I differ from the other candidates in having been a political prisoner of the fascist criminal regimes of Cheney-Bush, Bush-Quayle and the Reagan-Bush for the last 25 years. Having experienced first hand the torture terrorism and treachery of the U.S. secret police criminal surveillance harassment teams.”

State party director Williams said today she’s pretty sure another Democrat will enter the race. Williams declined to talk about who that could be but said it's possible someone might announce their candidacy during the convention. The Alaska Democratic Party convention is being held in Sitka this year.