I was perturbed enough by Markos Moulitsas' essay-poll or poll-essay on the two Alaska U.S. Legislative races, that I joined DailyKos as a diarist so I could address what has become a misperception as as result of the poll.The diary I wrote Monday and yesterday and posted yesterday evening, is called Kos' Trip Into the Wild. Go read it!
The misperception - I wrote about it last week as it became apparent - is that Ethan Berkowitz is running against Don Young, or as Kos put it, "Wow, wow, wow. Berkowitz is already running hard, and it's clear his will be a top pickup opportunity as Young is weighed down with his corruption."
As I stated in the article for DailyKos, "Ethan Berkowitz is running against Jake Metcalfe and Diane Benson and any other Democrat who files by June 1 of next year for a spot on the August 26, 2008 Alaska Democratic Primary. The winner of that late-season primary will have ten weeks to get his or her act together to face the GOP candidate, who will most likely not be Don Young."
Ethan is, as I've pointed out before, happy to be portrayed as the only candidate in the race. His web site now refers readers directly to Markos' misleading article, adding:
Ethan Berkowitz leads in new DailyKos poll
Berkowitz 49 — Young 42. That's the big news from the national political blog Daily Kos. They commissioned a poll and released its results on December 10. Ethan Berkowitz has a strong seven point lead over Don Young. Check out the results yourself here.
The numbers reveal a clear message: Alaskans are ready for a new direction.
I've asked myself "If Jake or Diane had been given this huge, but inaccurate advantage, how would they have portrayed it on their campaign page?" I suppose we'll never know.
6 comments:
A fine article, both here and on the DailyKOS. A minor correction - June 2 is the deadline for the 2008 Alaska primary - falls on a Monday.
Why has Diane Benson chosen not to run for the Alaska House or the Alaska Senate? This is a respectful question from an admirer of Diane's courage.
polarbear - she lives in Chugiak. When I asked her that question, she just laughed.
I hope nobody yells at me for goofing up the filing deadline.
Thanks for the kudo!
It's in everyone's best interests to have a single front-runner going against Young, and Berkowitz is clearly the leader at the moment - even Benson's internals show that to be true.
Benson may also be a great candidate, but in some ways she's damaged goods having lost to Young already.
big dog,
My idea is that it might help to build interest in the race if the three candidates are allowed to campaign, debate, be in forums together and talk about the issues all over the state. This will awaken Alaskans more and more to how in-touch our candidates are, and how out-of-touch and arrogant Don Young is.
The list of politicians who were seven points or less behind a potential opponent 8 or more months before an election and beat their pants off is miles long, my friend.
Why should somebody who came close to beating a major figure in Alaska politics when nobody else had the courage to run against him be regarded as "damaged goods"? Strikes me as weird...
What strikes me as "weird" is the notion that a person who only received 40% of the vote could be considered to have "come close" to beating Young.
alaskavet - close enough to shake Young up. close enough to get this field crowded. close enough to get people to pay more attention to information already out there on young, but gathering dust.
and closer than anyone had come to Young in 14 years. Benson got 3,000 less votes in 2006 than Knowles/Berkowitz, on 1/7th of the money Knowles/Berkowitz spent.
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