1) -- Ted Stevens' trial will be a spotlight of national news in the weeks leading up to the National Election, depressing the GOP base and GOP crossover in Alaska - and nationwide.2) -- Barack Obama will almost have to come to Alaska during the trial to highlight the differences between his Senatorial mission and that of Stevens. And that other old dude - not as old as Stevens - but the "white-haired, really old dude..."
3) -- Next to Don Young, Sean Parnell looks very, very clueless. Every chance potential August independent voters see them side by side, they'll want to know more about Diane Benson and Ethan Berkowitz.
4) -- Our Democratic Party AK-At-Large U.S. House seat candidates are both getting national attention. Let's hope the race stays positive.
5) -- Next to Don Young, Sean Parnell, while posing as a fiscal conservative, is a member of the highest-spending GOP gubernatorial administration in the USA. The Saradise base he has launched from, with help from the Club for Growth, has too much cognitive dissonance to become a message that really works with voters - no matter how much money they throw at it.
6) -- All these young Obama campaign workers are working their butts off from early morning until almost midnight, organizing this state from the center and left like it has never been organized before. The spillover into state-level politics is an added benefit from the Obama campaign's heavy presence here.
7) -- Next to Diane Benson and Ethan Berkowitz, Sean Parnell is a pasteboard suit, stumbling over on some answers when he knows he can't tell the truth, or giving stupid, uninformed ones, when he thinks he can bullshit people or stall out the clock. Parnell, to re-use a term used here before, is fucking clueless on many issues important to Alaskans.
8) -- Democratic Party candidates for Alaska House and Senate are also working harder than in years. There are several examples, but my favorite is Valdez resident Nancy Lethcoe and her battle to unseat the powerful John Harris. Nancy is a U.S. Summer Olympics champion, and two-time world record-holder - the butterfly - so I'm happy to begin writing about her on 8-8-08, the start of the 2008 Games. More to come soon on Nancy Lethcoe, and other Alaska Legislature candidates.
9) -- Did I mention Sean Parnell? What really goes on in that light (as in "airhead") governor's office? How much to the stories of illegal cooperation between his Juneau state-paid staff and his campaign office is going to start coming out? If the truth emerges, his conduct may make Troopergate look like kids' play.
10) -- The best reason to work our butts off - it gets Katie Hurley to smile so beautifully!
image -- Katie Hurley at the Palmer Obama office opening