The Winner is...

Boy wonder, the "wunderkind" Mark Begich, perhaps the 1st descendant of Croat Americans elected to the U.S.Senate. Ted Stevens gave the swan-song one might expect. We'll see what transpires.

Gone to Florida for Thanksgiving.
Watch this space.

Alas...

News that since Barack Obama became president-elect, gun store owners nationwide have experienced strong sales proves once again that nothing sells like fear. Particularly fear that's been marketed by the NRA and sold by the caseload to the receptive minds of bigots and paranoiacs. A local gun dealer boasted last week: "Obama is the best gun salesman we've had in 50 years."

If the NRA types were only worried that a Democratic congress might renew the so-called "assault weapons" ban, would gun stores find themselves so mobbed? No. Sadly, the genetic heritage of the next POTUS is probably THE factor here. This is the "Post-racial" America we've been told about?

Hold on...

...And grab with both hands. Mayor Mark now leads felonious Ted by 1022 votes. No other ballots will be counted until next Tuesday, so that is where things stand. Noteworthy is the fact that our own Mat-Su Valley has mostly been counted and even though they like their octogenarian ear-marking felon to the tune of nearly 2 - 1, the wunderkind of Anchor-town has increased his lead.

I could go on, but a visit to the Anchorage Daily News website (adn.com) or the Alaska Division of Elections will get you "real time" in the "Great Land."

As for this weekend: Go Illini, Go Ducks & Go Chicago Bears!

And the winner is..,

Nobody knows yet. At this posting, Mark Begich leads our felonious Ted Stevens by 824 votes (it was 814, but while on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show, the wunderkind Mayor of Anchorage Mark announced another 10 votes from an Alaskan rural community). If this trend holds - and considering the upside-downess of predictors in Alaska this election year, who knows - Mark Begich could beat Ted Stevens by enough(.5%)that an automatic recount will not occur.

Alas, the outlook for the erstwhile Democratic U.S. House of Representatives prospect Ethan Berkowitz is more problematic: Berkowitz has eaten into Don Young's lead by 2000 votes. That still leaves Ethan 15,000 votes behind. In the patois off sports playoff, Berkowitz has not been "mathematically eliminated," but with only 40+ thousand votes left to count, it is unlikely he'll pull it off. More's the pity, since Ethan was expected to put Alaska's biannual buffoon into retirement by 8% points, or so said our pollsters.

More counting Friday and next week.
Q: Current and expat Political junkies of Alaska - Does it get much better than this?

It so happens that...

The U.S. Senate race of Ted Stevens Mark Begich and the final tally-ho begins in earnest tomorrow, as 90,000 uncounted ballots weigh in: Some 9,500 early votes, 61,000 absentee ballots, and 20,000 questioned ballots.

1. Conventional political wisdom would dictate that the early voting would swing to Begich, since Obama's campaign was adamant that a strong early Obama vote would stymie expected, if localized, Republican attempts to suppress Democratic voters. Therefore, Begich should benefit.
2. The same wisdom dictates that the absentee vote would go to Stevens, as older, wealthier Republicans who could afford to leave the Alaskan winter behind would naturally vote for the senatorial institution that is Ted Steven (R) of Alaska.
3. Nobody really knows what will happen to the questioned ballots. Will most of them count? Will the surviving votes go to Mark Begich, or Ted Stevens?

Since the balance of power in the U.S.Senate depends in part on this election (whether Ted later resigns over his felony convictions or not) the next few days are not unimportant to the nation. Let's wait and see.

If you think...

This is the end of a bad stretch, you are most certainly wrong. It will take us years, not weeks or months to dig our way out of the mess that the "current occupant" (thanks to Garrison Keillor) of the White House got us into. In fact, it may take decades. But the new guy can make a big difference, and I think he will. Congratulations Barack.

As for Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens (formerly "Senator-for-Life" now "Senator facing seven-to-life"), although he's 3300 votes ahead, there are some 70,000+ early, absentee and questioned ballots left to count. Mark Begich, the "wunderkind" mayor of Anchorage is still in it.

Ethan Berkowitz' campaign against the state's lone U.S. Representative, and one of its foremost embarrassments - Don Young - is still mathematically viable but unlikely. What is it about Alaskans that makes us keep reelecting our aging felons and our clownish, arrogant assholes? Is it the cold, the arsenic in the water leached from the mine tailing's, or is it a affection for pork,stupidity and ignorance?

In case you hadn't noticed

This blogger's going for Barack Hussein Obama. By the time the polls close here in the reddest of red states in the Union, it will already be over, and I'm not worried about Obama not getting Alaska's 3 electoral votes - he never had them. And I hope he won't need them. But maybe our senatorial felon Ted Stevens will be shown the door after 36 years, and maybe Don Young, that embarrassing carbuncle on the arse of the Greatland's body politic will find a new career, although I hope for our children's sake he doesn't try teaching again.

At any rate, 24 hours from now (Alaska Standard Time) we should all know who's the president elect. Truth is, we could do worse than either of these two guys, although "that one"is considerably better for the job at hand. But how could we do worse than the guy we have now?

A Good Idea

Comes from Loyola Law Professor and "Election Law Blog" poster Richard Hasen:

The solution is to take the job of voter registration for federal elections out of the hands of third parties (and out of the hands of the counties and states) and give it to the federal government. The Constitution grants Congress wide authority over congressional elections. The next president should propose legislation to have the Census Bureau, when it conducts the 2010 census, also register all eligible voters who wish to be registered for future federal elections. High-school seniors could be signed up as well so that they would be registered to vote on their 18th birthday. When people submit change-of-address cards to the post office, election officials would also change their registration information.

This change would eliminate most voter registration fraud. Government employees would not have an incentive to pad registration lists with additional people in order to keep their jobs. The system would also eliminate the need for matches between state databases, a problem that has proved so troublesome because of the bad quality of the data. The federal government could assign each person a unique voter-identification number, which would remain the same regardless of where the voter moves. The unique ID would prevent people from voting in two jurisdictions, such as snowbirds who might be tempted to vote in Florida and New York. States would not have to use the system for their state and local elections, but most would choose to do so because of the cost savings.
____________________________________________________________________________________

I am tired of hearing Republicans claim "registration fraud," and bitching about ACORN (actually a victim in all this). I really don't like having to hear about voter suppression and intimidation from Dems either. If you're worried about the feds being too involved in our lives, lets swap out "No Child Left Behind," which is a failure, and put the $$ into the Census Bureau, where it could do good.