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Alaska Politics Blog

This is the place to talk about Alaska politics -- state, local, national. Public life in the Last Frontier has probably never been more interesting than right now -- the governor as candidate for vice president, the broad and still-evolving corruption investigation, a big election, powerful members of Congress under scrutiny, and the usual hardball Alaska politics. Come here for news, tidbits and information, and join the discussion. Keep your comments civil and on point. Avoid personal attacks. Do not use profanity. Posts that violate the Terms of Use will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be banned.

Contributors

Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad covers Alaska issues, including the congressional delegation, from Washington, D.C., for McClatchy Newspapers. Before joining the bureau in 2007, she spent seven years as a reporter at the Miami Herald, where she covered politics, government and the state legislature. E-mail Erika at ebolstad@adn.com.

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He spent three years based in Juneau for the ADN before joining the Tacoma News-Tribune to write about Washington state politics. He went to Iraq twice for the News Tribune, and previously wrote about Alaska government and politics for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers politics and other stories 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 was a reporter at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com

Features

SECTION

Alaska political corruption

The FBI raided state legislatures offices in Aug. 2006, and the fallout since has been epic in Alaska's political world.

The most important third-party candidate in the 2008 election?

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: November 17, 2008 - 6:29 pm

Comments (0) |

From David Hulen in Anchorage --

The Washington Post makes the case that the distinction could belong to Bob Bird, the Alaskan Independence Party's candidate for U.S. Senate this year. The story suggests Bird's candidacy may have cost Ted Stevens the election.

(Stevens') biggest obstacles appeared to be a potential prison sentence and his Democratic opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

Little did he know that one Bob Bird, the nominee of the conservative Alaska Independence Party, would stand in his way by grabbing 4 percent of the vote.

When a majority of votes were counted on Election Day, Stevens held a 3,200-vote lead. Last week, after 70,000 more votes were tallied, Begich pulled ahead by more than 1,000 votes, with fewer than 30,000 remaining to be counted Tuesday.

Bird -- running a conservative antiabortion, pro-gun-rights campaign -- has collected 12,144 votes. Bird may end up being the most important third-party candidate in the 2008 race...

Bird's support, the story notes, almost certainly came from conservatives unlikely to vote for Begich.

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