Less than fourteen hours into our joint fundraiser, unbiased Anchorage political wonk and pollster Ivan Moore has cancelled it by taking down his Ethan Berkowitz ActBlue page. . Ivan has disappeared it into the old memory hole. It's prior existence doesn't even show up today on Ethan's ActBlue broadsheet.The site, which had taken in money for Ethan Berkowitz's race against Democrat Diane Benson from about October 10 of 2007 until yesterday evening, stated the following:
I’ve been a pollster in Alaska for nearly 20 years. In early 1996, Ethan Berkowitz and I were next door neighbors. He stopped me in the driveway and said he was thinking of running for the Alaska State House. The rest is history, and the two of us have been essentially inseparable ever since.
The race for Congress against Don Young is going to be a huge undertaking. Our esteemed Congressman is going to use every single last dollar of the $1.6 million he has in the bank to desperately hold on to Alaska’s seat in Congress. And we need to raise significant funds to take it back.
I’ll also tell you what I know to be true… Ethan has the character and integrity and capabilities to make a great Congressman. Take it from me… he can win.
AS PROMISED, here are some results from the last statewide survey we did… Don’s rating is 43.1% positive, 49.9% negative, 7.0% neutral. Ethan is winning by 5.5 points on the head-to-head… 51% to 45.5%. You heard it here first…
Please help Ethan today! Please dig deep and make a contribution to his campaign, and invest in Alaska’s future.
If any of you have any questions for me, I can be reached at 1-907-278-4600. And go visit Ethan’s website at www.ethanberkowitz.com.
Thanks.
Ivan
I've left a message for Ivan at his office, and tried him on his cell, but we'll have to wait for an update, to get his version of why he felt he had to take the site down right in the middle of our fundraiser.
Interesting how quickly Ivan can dismantle a web site once its usefulness is over. Heh....
21 comments:
i am seriously questioning his timing here. the election is still a week away.
"Interesting how quickly Ivan can dismantle a web site once its usefulness is over. Heh...."
I guess that means we gotta get our Trust Fund Baby tshirts before Ivan shuts down his store over at www.berkowitzforcongress.com . He sure got his moneysworth from that.
How curious that the obviously unbiased Ivan Moore sneaks a poll into the Anchorage Press at the last minute claiming that Berkowitz has a huge lead over Diane Benson. I think that Ivan's obviously vested interest in Berkowitz makes any poll he produces immediately suspect. I wonder if Ivan gets a bonus if Berkowitz wins? So much for Berkowitz running a clean campaign. One has to wonder why so many powerful OUTSIDE forces are trying so hard to get Berkowitz elected.
Wait a minute. Am I reading this right? Are you guys implying that Ivan Moore had something to do with those Bogus Berkowitz web sites that were blamed on Jake Metcalfe? Are you saying that Ivan Moore is devious and clever enough to do such a thing? Why on earth would he do that? Berkowitz is Ivan's friend. I am shocked!!!!
The juveniles posting on this site make the Palin administration look mature. Ethan will win the primary because most non-R Alaskan voters will consider him to be the most experienced, most qualified and potentially most effective candidate. Suggesting that Ivan Moore will be the cause of that judgment is ridiculous. Diane's supporters should have greater respect for her candidacy than to continue to characterize her as a victim.
Diane has written and spoken well, about important issues. She is to be commended for that. And that should be the legacy of her campaign, not another prolonged whine from Phil Munger about how unfairly she's been treated.
Grow up.
Anon @ #5
Whether or not Ivan Moore's closeness to the Berkowitz campaign ends up being seen historically as having influenced any aspects of the Democratic candidates' races for the AK-AL seat remains to be seen. These columns regarding Moore since he began his so-called "Moore Report" aren't meant to be critical of Berkowitz, but of Moore. His disregard for providing full disclaimer/disclosure at the beginning of his employment last week merits concern, as shown by the poll results here.
His Berkowitz ActBlue site, which was continuously available to the Berkowitz campaign from early October 2007 until sometime this morning was an important. issue.
Important enough for Ivan or somebody to take the site down today.
I think my article posted here last Friday, originally posted at Democrats.com, speaks for itself, as positive, and concentrating, as you have pointed out, on the important things Diane Benson has bought to this campaign.
I've also stated - time and time again - that I only have two main issues with Ethan's campaign: some of his funding sources, and his Sean Parnell-look-alike health care plank.
If I've pointed out times when Benson has brought out important issues, and was then ignored by the media, by the Party or whatever, that isn't necessarily a "whine." Should those things have been ignored?
How far will Moore go to get his buddy Ethan elected? Will he do anything to get him the job?
Fundraising? Check.
Push polling? Check.
Fake neutrality? Check.
Hiding his involvement by deleting a longstanding website? Check.
Ruining an opponant with dirty tricks and then deleting a longstanding website? Hmmmmmm.
Great job bird-dogging Ivan Phil. You're getting to be a regular Alaskan Muckraker.
I believe in healthy debate. I believe in talking about the issues. I believe that in any free society those things absolutely must be protected. When debate devolves into demagoguery and petty name calling, constructive engagement is over.
Your attempts to paint anyone who isn't Pro-Diane as somehow dirty, corrupt, out of touch, not a progressive, evil, or even Stalinists are starting to make a lot of your fellow progressives sick.
When party leaders see the best chance Democrats have had in decades of unseating one of the most corrupt Bastards in the legislature and actually getting on with the progressive agenda, you call us part of the corrupt establishment. When pollsters deliver poll results you don't like, they must be biased. Through it all, you engage in disingenuous low-road politics that only hurt us in the end.
You call Berkowitz a Trustfund Baby even though you know it isn't true. You attack people for trying to raise money for their chosen candidate. You criticize the party for supporting him instead of arguing for why they SHOULD be supporting Benson.
Benson is an incredible human being who is an amazing asset to our state, but her supporters are making her look like a left-fringe whacko.
Phil - STOP! You're not helping.
momossman:
1) I have never attempted to characterize "anyone who isn't Pro-Diane as somehow dirty, corrupt, out of touch, not a progressive, evil, or even Stalinists." It strikes me as weird that you have somehow inferred that.
2) Regarding your statement, "When party leaders see the best chance Democrats have had in decades of unseating one of the most corrupt Bastards in the legislature and actually getting on with the progressive agenda, you call us part of the corrupt establishment. When pollsters deliver poll results you don't like, they must be biased. Through it all, you engage in disingenuous low-road politics that only hurt us in the end."
I have no idea what you are talking about here. Where have I stated a poll result was biased? I have criticized Moore because he withheld information from people who hired him about his financial efforts on behalf of Berkowitz after the date of his hire into a four-outlet media deal during an election cycle. His total elimination of that fundraising set yesterday makes my point - he knew it was wrong.
Last year, I criticized Moulitsas for telling hundreds of thousands of people that Berkowitz was then in a race against Don Young. Sean Parnell and Gabrielle LeDoux are in a race against Don Young. Ethan Berkowitz was then, and now still is in a race against Diane Benson.
3) You say, "you call Berkowitz a Trustfund Baby even though you know it isn't true."
That is a bare-assed fucking lie. Unless you can find evidence I have said that, you owe me a big apology. I have never said that!
I can find five or six people who got shook up when they tried that line about Ethan, and I jumped on 'em hard. My usual statement when this comes up is that I believe Ethan came to Alaska much as I did, to find a new life, a new challenge, and a great place to raise kids. Do you want the names and phone numbers of the people to whom I've said that to recently? If you do, e-mail with your real name, you coward.
4) You say, "You criticize the party for supporting him instead of arguing for why they SHOULD be supporting Benson."
I'm not going to call this a lie. But it isn't the truth. I have probably written about 20,000 words of honest, positive analysis of Diane Benson, in 2006, 2007 and 2008. I'm an intensely loyal person. Additionally, I strongly believe Diane Benson is one of the strongest candidates this state has ever produced, no matter what some others believe.
momossman,
make that 60,000 words of honest, positive analysis of Diane Benson, in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Shithead.
Are you working for Sean Parnell?
Phil -
I think he (with "man" at the end of the name, I'm taking a guess here) was criticizing the "trust fund baby" comment posted by sundog above.
He was criticizing the link placed on Diane Benson's website linking to that nutty "Rahm and the DCCC are Stalinist" article, complete with doctored graphics of "Rahm Stalin".
He was criticizing continued attempts by you and others to make an issue of Our Common Values giving money to Berkowitz, as if having the support of the 4th highest ranking Democrat in the House and the engineer of the successful 2006 House campaign is somehow a bad thing.
He was criticizing the commenters on your site and elsewhere who actually said that Ivan's results can't be trusted because he wants Ethan to win.
Citing you specifically was probably nothing more than recognizing that when it comes to Diane Benson backers, you are one of the most vocal.
That you devolved to obscenity and paranoid accusations that he might be working for Parnell was probably pretty much exactly what he expected you to do. It's also sad that someone who was probably trying to stand up for a fellow Democrat and call you to listen to your better angels was called names and accused of working for Parnell.
When this primary is over, no matter who the nominee is, please remember that as someone with such a loud megaphone, you are a voice of the party and therefore of the nominee - like it or not. You reflect on your candidate, and your candidate will be judged at least in part by what you and I and Patty Higgins, Kevin Brown, Carolyn Covington, Kay Brown, Les Gara, and Barack Obama and all the other leaders and members of this party say and do.
Speak wisely.
Dear Karen,
Yes!!!
Phil Smith
Juneau
I agree with Karen.
I have posted to your blog before, and was totally belittled for liking Ethan at that time. You and your blog readers went up one side of me and down the other, because I liked Berkowitz. I stated the obvious about his experience and her total lack of it. I got hammered big time.
With that said, I no longer will even consider Ms. Benson in the primary. If she should be the nominee in the general, then depending on the republican nominee, she might get my vote.
I am a registered independent, but generally vote more democratic, and luckily can vote the way I want.
I just want Phil and others to remember, that if you blast too hard at the others of your own party, you can't go back and try and change what has been said or done. That catch 22 is not good for the democrats.
What I don't understand or seem to grasp, is that if you blast the other members of your party, that will stay with the other member through out the campaign. Look at what Hillary said about Obama and his house deal in Illinois. That will come back and bite him dearly, and it was aboveboard at the time of the sale. He bought it from a couple, and the extra land for the back yard from the lobbyist for fair market value. The only problem is that the republican's are now using that against Obama. If you continue with your one sided vendetta, then you will have Parnell as the congressman for all Alaska. Is that what you really are striving for? I'm sorry, but I don't believe Ms. Benson is qualified enough, although likable enough, just not enough experience to do the job. She should of been in the state legislature first or maybe a board member or mayor or "something". That would of been a big help, giving her the experience she so desperately needs.
bill j,
could you cite an example in my writing here that could be used by Mr. Parnell against Mr. Berkowitz, should Mr. Berkowitz somehow prevail next Tuesday? Which thread was it at which you felt you were "totally belittled"?
Diane and Ethan have arrived at this point in their lives having traveled completely different paths. I daresay Diane's "experience" in overcoming the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that have stood before her throughout her life, her "experience" in daring to accomplish things people have assured her she shouldn't even attempt, is just as legitimate as Ethan's experience prosecuting cases in the courtroom and debating in the legislature.
Diane is of this land. She is one of us. As the old man said in that Clint Eastwood movie, she has "endeavored to persevere," and she has never given up. She is a fighter for justice and truth, and I support her unequivocally.
Well, though Diane is an Alaska Native, she isn't a Native Alaskan since she was born in Yakama Washington. So can we at least stop with the lifelong Alaskan thing please? Further, I guess I am tired of practically every answer she gives including the phrase "as the mother of a soldier wounded in Iraq". Finally, several of my native friends have told me that her pronunciation when she opens a debate or public appearance in Athabascan is really bad. One said it was practically jibberish.
So, I guess what I mean is, can we have an honest debate about ideas and solid plans, not about where we came from and what we survived? If Diane would have done that from the beginning without leaning on the "Irag War Wounded Warrior" meme, and the dispicable quote from the channel 2 debate "Ethan, I don't care if you ARE a San Francisco trust fund liberal" crap, I might have voted for her.
See what you did there....got me so mad that I actually violated the rules of English grammar to get that thought out.
That's fine. You guys get us mad, too. That's what elections are all about.
Oh, and one other thing. If you are tired of hearing about Diane's wounded son, I am equally tired of hearing Ethan's "I was the one who stood on the floor of the Legislature," blah, blah, blah. What did he do the other 10 years while the corruption was going on all around him?
We seem to have wandered off the track of why this happened and what Ivan Moore's got to say about it!
Ivan is extremely good at 'disconnecting' when it suits him, the problem is, eventually all those loose ends will one day turn and bite ya Ivan!
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