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DEL.ICIO.USThe Democrat now leads in Alaska’s senate race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Perhaps the biggest news in Georgia this morning comes out of Alaska, where in that state’s U.S. Senate race Democrat Mark Begich now leads Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens by 814 votes.
Check for yourself here. A victory there would put Democrats at the 58-seat mark, and would likely increase the emphasis both sides put on winning the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia.
You saw in a post last night that Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss was prepared to expel Stevens, who was convicted last month on seven felony counts, but still hopes the long-time Alaskan senator would pull this race out — and give the GOP a chance to rebound in a special election.
A couple leftovers from Wednesday’s press conference with Chambliss and John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee:
— Republicans are very aware of a Barack Obama-driven surge of volunteers moving into Georgia on behalf of Martin, and want to give every impression of matching them on the ground.
“We have 10 regional offices that we have expanded from their original number of people. We also have a number of others - grassroots organizations and offices throughout the state,” Chambliss said.
— Both Chambliss and Martin on Wednesday expressed skepticism about the extension of federal bailout privileges to the U.S. automotive industry. Martin, who enjoys union backing, was more open to the idea, but neither ruled it out entirely.
Said Chambliss:
”I’m very much opposed to extending additional funding for the automotive industry - unless there is major restructuring within the automobile industry. They have got fundamental, deep-rooted problems in the automotive industry today, and they have brought their position on themselves. And it’s not a function of government to step in and give them a blank check. Money will not solve the problems within the automobile industry.”
Said Martin:
“It needs to be carefully done. We don’t want the same kind of proposal that came forward with last bailout. The automobile industry is an important part of our economy and deserves careful consideration. [It needs to be] core competitive in the world economy and creating energy efficient cars. Just giving money to executives of automobile industry doesn’t make sense.”
Comments
By Frank Smith
November 13, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this
Begich has pulled ahead of Stevens because of his campaign’s emphasis on getting supporters to vote early and absentee. Most of those remaining ballots should be counted on Friday. Stevens, though secular by his record, was very heavily supported by the Alaska fundamentalist community despite his conviction on seven felony counts of corruption. The Mat-Su Valley (including Wasilla) supported a born-again legislator after his offices were raided by the FBI two years ago. A private-prison supporter, he’s now doing time in a federal private prison. Don Young will win his election despite a ethics cloud that has caused him to spend more than a million dollars in campaign funds on attorneys this past year.
Saxby Chambliss took in $5,000 from the campaign finance laundry at VECO, that has caused all the Alaskan legislators and lobbyists to be convicted. Two indictments are pending trials and many more are anticipated.
By Daniel
November 13, 2008 5:54 PM | Link to this
Uh, anyone else notice that 90,000 votes in Alaska is more than 1/4 of the votes there.