Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
Endorsements Fly in GOP Senate Race
The Primary Election is tomorrow, and the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate are scrambling for high-profile endorsements. Mead Treadwell announced today he has astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Joe Miller boasts Fox TV host Mike Huckabee, and – just today -- Focus on the Family Founder James Dobson. Dan Sullivan landed board members of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Club for Growth and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
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Sec. Moniz: We Won’t Be Obstacle to Alaska Gas Exports
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz is in Alaska this week. He says the Obama Administration wants to spur a project to export North Slope natural gas, and he says the No. 1 way his department can help is by staying out of the way.
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Rep. Young Introduces Fiancee to Church Crowd
Alaska Congressman Don Young introduces girlfriend, Anne Garland Walton of Fairbanks, as his fiancée.
Joe Miller Agrees To Support GOP Rivals If They Win Primary
Miller had previously refused to say whether he’d run as a write-in or on a third-party ticket if he loses the Republican Primary on Aug. 19. Now, Miller says he’ll back either Dan Sullivan or Mead Treadwell to help unseat the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Mark Begich.
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Sullivan Continues to Lead Fundraising Battle
In the U.S. Senate race, Dan Sullivan’s financial advantage over other
Republican contenders continues to grow. Sullivan has raised more than $4 million, most of it from Outside Alaska. He’s done well in Ohio, the headquarters of the paint company his family runs. Money has also poured into the Sullivan campaign from national fundraising groups working to win Republican control of the Senate.
Ad Claims Treadwell Company Erodes Privacy
A new negative ad focused on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mead Treadwell says technology companies he founded are helping the government erode privacy. Treadwell calls the claim absurd.
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Treadwell, Sullivan Assail Each Other’s Ties To L48 Companies
The two leading Republican U.S. Senate candidates are increasingly turning on each other. Last week, Dan Sullivan sent mailers to Alaska voters alleging Mead Treadwell benefitted financially from the Obama stimulus package, a bill he denounces on the campaign trail. This week Treadwell is fighting back, and he’s taking aim at the Ohio paint conglomerate Sullivan’s family runs.
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Eielson A Frontrunner to House F-35 Fighters
There's good news for the Fairbanks business community today. The secretary of the Air Force called Alaska’s congressional delegation this morning to announce that Eielson Air Force Base is the only candidate selected to house two squadrons of F-35 fighter planes. The final decision won’t be until the fall of 2015, after a study of the environmental Impact, but Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she’s confident.
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Murkowski Demands Begich Stop Using Her Image in Campaign Ads
A lawyer hired by Sen. Lisa Murkowski‘s re-election committee today sent a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign of Sen. Mark Begich. She is demanding that he quit using her name and image in his political ads.
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GOP Candidates for U.S. Senate Debate Abortion, Social Issues
The three Republicans vying to run against U.S. Sen. Mark Begich met today in an Eagle River church to debate social issues in a forum sponsored by the Alaska Family Council. All three took anti-abortion, conservative positions but, judging by the applause, this was Joe Miller’s crowd.
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Dan Sullivan Gets Negative On Mead Treadwell
In the campaign for the U.S. Senate, the Republican primary has taken a turn for the negative. Dan Sullivan has sent mailers to voters in Anchorage and Fairbanks bashing rival Republican Mead Treadwell.
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Cameras Catch Rep. Young Twisting Arm in Capitol
Politics often involves a bit of arm-twisting, but footage of Alaska Congressman Don Young today shows him literally twisting the arm of a young man in a hallway of the U.S. Capitol. Young says he shouldn't have done it.
ASRC Gets Option To Buy Into Offshore Chukchi Drilling Operations
Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and a handful of North Slope village corporations now have the option to buy into offshore drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea. It’s part of a new agreement with Shell Oil. But with the future of that company’s Arctic operations up in the air, the deal raises more questions than answers.
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Sullivan Campaign: Poll Says We’re Winning
The U. S. Senate campaign of Republican Dan Sullivan is drawing attention to a poll that finds he’s ahead of Democratic Sen. Mark Begich by 5 percentage points. That’s just outside the poll’s margin of error. It’s based on interviews of 500 Alaskans in late June by Basswood, a Republican firm. The Sullivan press release is aimed a rebutting an analysis sponsored by CBS and the New York Times that rival Republican Mead Treadwell was circulating earlier in the week.
Campaign Profile: For Joe Miller, 2010 Looms Large
Republican Joe Miller is vying for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. But the specter of his 2010 run against Sen. Lisa Murkowski looms large over his current campaign. Some of the residual effects strengthen Miller’s candidacy. But the negatives are persistent.
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YouGov Model Shows Treadwell Within Reach of Begich
Most polls in the U.S. Senate race show Dan Sullivan ahead of rival Republican Mead Treadwell in the primary. But the Treadwell campaign is trumpeting a new analysis by the polling firm YouGov. It shows Treadwell would do better against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in November than Sullivan would.
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In U.S. Senate Race, GOP Rivals Lag Far Behind Sullivan
Campaign finance reports from Alaska’s U.S. Senate race show Republican candidate Dan Sullivan is increasing his financial lead over GOP rivals Mead Treadwell and Joe Miller.
Campaign Profile: Sullivan’s “Amazing Credentials”
As a candidate for U.S. Senate, Dan Sullivan has a bucket of advantages. He married into an acclaimed Athabascan family. His own family, back in Cleveland, are six-figure donors to Republicans in high places. One of his biggest assets, though, is his resume. But political opponents say his record has thin spots and complain he oversells himself.
Kerry Names Ex-Coast Guard Boss Special Rep to Arctic
Secretary of State John Kerry today named former Coast Guard commandant Robert J. Papp Jr. as special representative to the Arctic. Kerry created the new position to elevate Arctic issues in America's foreign policy and national security strategy as the U.S. prepares to assume the chair of the Arctic Council.
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Murkowski Joins Democrats on Vote for Birth Control Coverage
A U.S. Senate bill requiring companies to cover birth control in employee healthcare plans failed a procedural vote today . Both Alaska senators voted for the bill, aimed at undoing the Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of only three Republicans to vote for the measure, dubbed the “Not My Boss’s Business Act.”
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