Free Republic

Call this the case of political backfire. Big time. Incumbent Alaskan Senator, Mark Begich, put up an ad over the weekend that was intended to make his Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan, appear soft on child rape. Or something. Instead, today, the Democrat Senator is under heavy fire from the victim’s family, who are demanding removal of the “shocking” ad and any future references, “either directly or indirectly.” The family’s lawyer also said that Begich was “tearing apart” the family and “playing pure politics at the expense” of his clients. But on Monday, the family’s attorney, Bryon Collins, issued a letter...

With the elections just two months away, Democratic incumbents overall have run strong-enough campaigns to ensure the fight for the Senate majority remains a tossup — despite a playing field tilted heavily in the GOP’s direction. Republicans, who need a net gain of six seats to take control of the chamber, are expected to get halfway there by picking up the open seats in Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia. Its open-seat opportunities don’t stop there, but the GOP will likely need to defeat at least two sitting senators to win the majority.

The highly competitive Alaska Senate race turned vitriolic over the holiday weekend after Democratic incumbent Mark Begich's campaign released a brutal new TV ad that tied Republican challenger Dan Sullivan to circumstances surrounding a horrific Anchorage murder case. On Friday, the Begich campaign began airing the ad -- now pulled from the airwaves --which featured a retired Anchorage police officer recounting the circumstances of a 2013 crime. In that case, a man named Jerry Active stands accused of murdering an elderly couple and sexually assaulting their 2-year-old granddaughter and the girl’s 91-year-old great-grandmother. Active had been previously convicted of the...

The Alaska Democratic Party broke with long tradition Monday when its central committee voted 89-2 to not field a gubernatorial ticket and instead put its weight behind the independent campaign of Bill Walker and Byron Mallott. The vote to support the fusion ticket was contingent on Walker dropping his Republican Party affiliation. Mallott will quit as the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, as will his running mate, state Sen. Hollis French. But Mallott will remain a Democrat, executive director Kay Brown said after the vote at party headquarters in a Spenard bungalow.

With the public hearing in Soldotna last night, the public comment period on the proposal to close the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 Brown Bear hunting season on the Kenai Peninsula comes to an end. In a release yesterday, the Governor’s office said, “Federal land managers have again proposed limiting Alaskans’ access to a state resource, the proposed closure is not justified by either resource protection concerns or federal policy. I strongly urge the Service to reconsider this action and allow state-authorized hunting to continue on the refuge.” ... The decision to temporarily close the Brown Bear season on the...

USA Today articles are headline and link only.

Aug 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow had to strengthen its position, economically and militarily, in the resource rich Arctic region, where other countries are vying for influence.

Alaska is critical to Republican hopes of taking control of the Senate, and, coming off last week’s state GOP primary, the Alaska Senate race is a near tie. A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Alaska Voters shows Republican Dan Sullivan with a 47% to 45% lead over incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate in the race, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

WASHINGTON -- Sarah Palin has lost the magic. The defeat of her choice Tuesday in a Republican Senate primary in her home state of Alaska capped a primary season in which her favored candidates have stumbled across the nation. A referendum to restore Palin’s signature achievement from her time as Alaska governor, a state tax on oil companies, was also headed toward defeat following Tuesday’s voting, dealing a double whammy loss to Palin in her home state and highlighting her declining influence. Only four of the 15 congressional candidates endorsed by Palin nationwide this year have won their primaries, a...

A referendum to roll back an oil production tax change made in 2013 was defeated by voters in the state’s primary election held Aug. 19. Ballot Measure 1, which would have reinstated the state’s previous tax known as ACES that was repealed in 2013, was voted down 52 percent to 48 percent, or a margin of about 6,800 votes, the Division of Elections reported in late results with 98.6 percent of the votes counted. Earlier in the evening of Aug. 19 the “yes” votes had a thin majority of a few hundred for repeal with about 25 percent of the...

Last night in Alaska, the choice of both establishment Republican Karl Rove and the free-market Club for Growth won over a tea-party-backed candidate — but not by much. With that result comes some lessons for the future about Democratic interference in GOP primaries. The race against Democratic senator Mark Begich this fall will be close and very hard fought — and could determine overall control of the Senate. Miller’s grassroots support gave him a late surge against Sullivan. But one of the biggest drags on the frontrunner was a series of brutal TV ad attacks against him by Put Alaska...

Republican establishment favorite Dan Sullivan will take on vulnerable Alaska Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in the fall after winning his party’s hotly contested Senate primary on Tuesday. Sullivan, his state’s former attorney general and natural resources commissioner, beat two Republican rivals for the nomination. He faced Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Tea Party favorite and 2010 GOP primary winner Joe Miller. The Associated Press called the race with 80 percent of the precincts reporting. Sullivan had 40 percent of the vote, while Miller had garnered 32 percent and Treadwell placed third with 25 percent. Sullivan led Miller by over 7,000...

Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich wants Alaskans to know he is one of them and an independent voice against President Barack Obama. So he's opening campaign offices in far-flung places like a coin-operated laundry in Dillingham...

FAIRBANKS - Alaskans flocked to the polls Tuesday, drawn by a contentious ballot issue over the state's oil tax policy and a hotly contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate, the winner of which likely will face Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in November. With a fifth of precincts reporting, only 552 votes separated the yes and no votes on the ballot measure, with yes on top. As early returns rolled in for the Senate race, Dan Sullivan had 40 percent of the vote, followed by Joe Miller with 33 percent, Mead Treadwell with 23.8 and John Jaramillo with 3 percent. Begich...

One of the last important primaries before the November midterms will be held Tuesday in Alaska. Voters will pick the Republican candidate to oppose Democratic Senator Mark Begich. There are three very credible candidates who are locked in a tough battle: Alaska politician Dan Sullivan, current Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Tea Party favorite Joe Miller. Dan Sullivan, the former attorney general and natural resources commissioner has led for months and is backed by the GOP political establishment including by Fox News contributor and former George W. Bush senior advisor Karl Rove. Four years ago, Sarah Palin's endorsement of Miller,...

The body of the pregnant missing wife of a U.S. Marine based in Southern California has been found and her alleged lover has been charged with homicide, police said. Christopher Brandon Lee, 24, was arrested in Anchorage, Alaska and charged in the murder of 20-year-old Erin Corwin, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said Monday.

John and Scott have commented on the indictment of Gov. Rick Perry. As they note, it fits a pattern of politically motivated indictments of prominent Texas Republicans. The Perry indictment also fits a pattern of harassment via the legal process of prominent Republican governors: Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and now Perry. What do these four have in common? Why, they all are (or were) potentially viable candidates for the national office. Invocation of the legal process against Christie may well be warranted. (So too with Bob McDonnell, whom I didn’t include in my list because, although once vaguely...

Slip of the tongue? Yesterday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” Hillary Clinton spoke about what she would do about licensing illegal immigrants when she is president again. Watch:

Palin backs Tea Party favorite Joe Miller for Alaska GOP Senate nod Published August 15, 2014 Sarah Palin is throwing her support behind Tea Party favorite Joe Miller in the looming Republican primary for the Alaska Senate race.  The former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential nominee announced her support Friday in a written statement, provided to Fox News.  The statement said:  "To restore liberty, to defend our Constitution, to build American exceptionalism, we must send fighters to the U.S. Senate who will stop Barack Obama's fundamental transformation of the nation we love. The status quo has got to go,...

As company works up new Liberty development plan, big rig remains sidelined - - - - It’s been five years since BP shipped a gigantic, specially designed drilling rig to Alaska’s North Slope to develop the offshore Liberty oil field. But the rig has yet to drill a well. It’s just sitting there. Exactly what BP plans to do with the behemoth, constructed by Parker Drilling Co., remains to be seen. But one thing seems apparent - it won’t be used for the Liberty project. BP has indicated as much in correspondence this year with the federal Bureau of Ocean...