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AK-AL: Another Challenger Emerges

by: James L.

Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 8:56 PM EDT

From the Anchorage Daily News:

Jake Metcalfe, former Anchorage School Board president and former head of the state Democratic Party, announced late Sunday that he plans to run against Don Young in the 2008 congressional election.
"All this stuff has been coming out, there's been a barrage of new information about the corruption and the ethics violations, and I thought, 'You know, somebody's got to run against him,' " he said.

"I just figured I'd do it."

Metcalfe, an attorney for IBEW, grew up in Southeast Alaska in a large, well-known Juneau family. He worked previously as a prosecutor in Bethel. He said by cell phone from Washington, D.C., Sunday night that he plans to file the paperwork today.

Metcalfe joins 2006 nominee Diane Benson in the primary for the Democratic nomination. And I suspect that those two won't have the race to themselves, considering that the DCCC and DSCC have been courting the likes of former state Rep. (and 2006 Lt.-Gov. nominee) Ethan Berkowitz and Anchorage mayor Mark Begich to take on the embattled Young and Senator Ted Stevens (who had his home raided today by the FBI and the IRS, incidentally). If there are Democrats who ever wanted to move on up in Alaska and aim for statewide federal office, 2008 could very well be their best shot in decades, with corruption investigations heating up against the once-popular incumbents and the Club For Growth making suggestions that it might finance a primary or two in the state.

Metcalfe, for his part, seems to have gotten tired of watching the courted candidates wait as Stevens and Young implode:

Metcalfe said that former state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz and Mayor Mark Begich have also been considering a run against Young. Neither could be reached.

Young has a large campaign war chest and any candidate who runs against him needs to start early raising money and making connections across the state, Metcalfe said.

"People have to quit waiting for other people to make up their minds," he said.

"The Democrats are in the majority, and we've got a back-bencher for an incumbent," he said. "He's no longer powerful. ...We need someone that's in the majority."

With Republicans mired in scandal upon scandal, Berkowitz and Begich would be utterly insane not to run in 2008. Perhaps Metcalfe's entry in the race will bump up the timeline for one of them.

James L. :: AK-AL: Another Challenger Emerges

Tags: AK-AL, 2008 Elections, House, (All Tags)

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AK-AL: Another Challenger Emerges | 12 comments

Stevens

With Sen. Stevens officially now in an ethical morass, we need to field a legitimate challenger to take him on and try to force retirement.

by: AC4508 @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 00:50:49 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Ethical AND legal morass.

But yeah, I hope Begich goes for the full enchilada and aims for the Senate.

by: James L. @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 00:55:38 AM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Hell, I'm just worried Stevens will go down too quickly.

A la Cunningham, or Torricelli. I'm terrified that Stevens won't be on the ballot in 2008, and I'm not confident about our chances in an open seat race.

Incidentally, I'm also scared Don Young won't be on the ballot in Nov 08. Rick Renzi and John Doolittle won't be either, but we can win a special election in CA-04 and we can win an 08 open seat in AZ-01. Either a special election or an open seat in AK-AL would be tricky.

by: texas dem @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 02:22:24 AM CDT

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Knowles, Steven and Begich

I think we've finally come to terms that Knowles just isn;t the popular powerhouse we've always thought him to be. He barely won in 1994, and in 1998 he won 2:1 while still barely breaking 50%. I think the fact that he managed to lose to Lisa Murkowski, even 2004 which was a very strong year for Alaska Republicans, should have said volumes about a possible 2006 candidacy. But, Sarah Pallin was a pretty tough nut to crack. I don't think that Ethan Berkowitz can take down Young.

Begich, if the environment is bad enough, if we do wlel enough in AK at the PResidential level, could win. Partly because Stevens age is an issue, he's less powerful in the senate than he was, and if there's a big corruption investigation and the DSCC spends a pretty penny on this race, then I think we could possibly narrowly win this race. Regardless, a statewide run for Beigch would be a win win situation, even he lost if would vastly inhance his statewide name recognition for a possible run at governor or for the AK-AL seat.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 10:38:38 AM CDT

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Alaska is cheap.

There is no reason not to run hard in Alaska. It's practically free, we might win, and it's still a Senate seat if we do. Texas on the other hand is a 15 million dollar challenger's race. I hope we do that too, but 15 million could pay for what, Kentucky and North Carolina both? Given that Rick Noriega is unable to open many pockets himself, except maybe some grassroots money worth a million or so, we may or may not (I do have to profess ignorance here) be talking about sending a bunch of national money into Texas. And that is a tough call.

(Also I could be wrong about Texas fundraising. I'm not sure how much big money for the Ds originates in Texas, and I'm not sure how much more big money might be available, that wouldn't be otherwise, if it was for a Texas race. I just don't know.)

Anyway, Alaska's cheap. Even if we don't think we'll win, we should do it. In the event of a Stevens retirement, who knows what kind of troll a Republican primary might spit out onto the playing field?

by: texas dem @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 13:33:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

hey James,

somethings messing up my comments. After a certain length, they won't post. I click preview and all the text is gone, and replaced by the word null. Can you explain how to fix it?

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 10:05:00 AM CDT

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I had the same problem. My text showed as null in the preview section, but it came up totally intact when I hit Post. Did you try hitting post and seeing if it all showed up?

I'll see if I can get any answers for you...

by: James L. @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 10:16:28 AM CDT

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let me check

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 10:38:06 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

yep, it worked.

interesting. Mark Begich's family history is very interesting. I'm hardly a conspiracy theorist, but we have written documentation that the FBI had recieve information from California over a radio signal from a certain glacier that was en-route to Juneau, which was where his father was heading. I think the FBI let them die, Hale Boggs had recently made big enemies with both Nixon and the FBI.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 10:44:32 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I would say CA-04

would be a lot harder to win as a special election or open seat than AK-AL. Party affiliation hasn't historically been as important for Alaska. A lot of independant minded people, like Maine, a lot of native American democrats and a strong, growing Democratic vote total in and around Juneau, (in 2006 we left only one Republican State. Rep left in the whole Borrough, and it delivered some very strong totals for Knowles State Campaign). I think Alaska is very open to electing a Democrat in many instances.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 10:01:22 AM CDT

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Juneau and Ankorage

are already more than half of the population of Alaska, and that's what makes it so advantageous of being the mayor of a city that is 1/3 the population of the state. If anyone can win statewide, it'd be Mark Begich.

Of course, this is not to discredit Tony Knowles. Sarah Palin indeed was a tough nut to crack, she is now sitting on top of 90% approval ratings, because she's a maverick against the Republicans while still being conservative enough for the base. Tony Knowles, afterall, could run for AK-AL.

by: KainIIIC @ Thu Aug 02, 2007 at 14:33:59 PM CDT

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then, don't forget

that another 15% of the state is the heavily Democratic native American parts of the state out side of Fairbanks, (which I get the feeling is the Republican stronghold of the state), Anchorage, (which is a Republicna leaning city), and Juneau, (which is pretty Democratic). Someone who can overperform in Anchorage, keep a strong margin in Juneau, and win the "outstate" areas would win pretty easily.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Thu Aug 02, 2007 at 16:59:13 PM CDT

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AK-AL: Another Challenger Emerges | 12 comments