The Uncounted AK-AL Young-Parnell Votes

The primary election results are frozen at 97.9% for a while. Apparently, the uncounted precincts are:

Hughes
Iliamna
Hydaburg
Kokhanok
Nondalton
Sheep Mountain
Atmautluak
Lower Kalskag
Scammon Bay

Probably - as far as the Young-Parnell race goes, more Young votes than for Parnell. More interesting are the remaining, yet uncounted absentee and questioned ballots.

The supervision of the Division of Elections is a responsibility of the person now behind Don Young by 145 votes. Robert Dillon from An Alaskan Abroad writes about what he has learned about the current status of the absentee and questioned ballots. I'll reprint his analysis, but insert Sean Parnell every time he wrote Division of elections:

Gail Fenumiai, director of Sean Parnell's Division of Elections, said they mailed out more than 16,200 absentee ballots and have received about 7,600 back. A good chunk of those were included in last night's count but there's still potentially 8,000 ballots out there.

Sean Parnell was also accepting absentee ballots from people around the state who could not make it to an official polling station. Those ballots are still being collected and a firm number on how many there are won't be known until Thursday.

There's also the issue of question ballots from each precinct. Sean Parnell will begin counting absentee and question ballots on Sept. 5. An unofficial final tally is expected that evening, Fenumiai said. State statute allows the Division 15 days to turn in a final count, but they try to do it in 10 days during a primary, Fenumiai said.

Sean Parnell won't begin counting ballots absentee and question ballots before Sept. 5. The only change in the count prior to that will be the nine precincts that didn't report last night.

As it stands now with 97.8 precincts reporting, Don Young has 42,461 votes to Sean Parnell's 42,316 -- a difference of just 145 in Young's favor.

There is no evidence I'm aware of that Parnell will attempt to influence the count. However, the state is already involved in answering questions and complaints regarding the Lt. Governor's office's ties to Parnell's campaign office.

I've yet to see a story about that in the media, but it is happening. Actions have been taken by the Attorney General's office in this matter. Strange how incurious the MSM in Alaska is about a story that is so easily investigated.

Scenes From the Egan Center - Alaska 2008 Primary Night

The 2008 Alaska Primary Race is over. I'll be writing about it later today, when I have more time. I'll make one observation now, though. Turnout, after all the hype, was lower than I expected. 20,000 less voters voted in the AK-AL race than I was hoping for. 48,056 voted in that contest in 2006. At 97% count, it is around 65,000 for that race in 2008. In that same contest, Democratic Party ticket increased about 15% over 2006. Republican Party participation in that rather close contest, was only up 11% from 2006.

And - this is rather troubling. I've been commenting about how weird it is for Ted Stevens' supporters to be using their kids as props in his campaign appearances. Well, it turns out, they are largely his grandkids, and youngsters bought (hired out) from the Covenant House. Sick....? Well, somebody in the know observed to me, "Hey - they need the work!"

Sen. Ted Stevens, from below, on KTUU set. Several people, including Republicans, commented to me how old and troubled he looks.

Linda Menard, who convinced Senate President Lyda Green to pull out of the GOP Primary race, happy with her cruise to Primary victory.

Mr. Whitekeys. I asked him if he was thinking, "WTF?" He laughed that great laugh of his, responding, "So much new material, so little time...."

Mark Begich's internet guru, Matt Browner Hamlin, back to work, after being detained in Hong Kong, for unfurling a Tibetan flag during the Summer Olympics.

Shannyn Moore trying to interview me: "Did you guys totally screw up, or what?"

David Shurtleff, Ethan Berkowitz's Communications director, and me, beginning to make up. Actually, we've been fine.

I asked Ethan Berkowitz's wife, Mara Kimmel, to pin one of her husband's campaign buttons on my lapel before I left the hall.

More on DNC Coverage

Fairbanks Mayor and somewhat sane Republican, Jim Whittaker, gave a speech this afternoon on Obama. The image at left is from Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis. An Alaskan Abroad's Robert Dillon - now back on the web after a changeover from one server to another - has the text:

Good evening! We are Americans first, not Democrats, not Republicans. I stand before you as a father, a husband, a mayor, an Alaskan, a registered Republican—but first and foremost, as an American.

I am not here to speak against Senator McCain. I am here to endorse Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States of America because I am an American first. And as Americans, each of us has one precious vote—and a responsibility to cast that vote for the candidate we believe will best meet America’s challenges and seize America’s opportunities.

I will be casting mine for the candidate who possesses a keen intellect, a pragmatic idealism and a resulting wisdom which is sorely needed in America today. I will be casting my vote for Barack Obama.

We, Americans, must have a foreign policy based on strength, logic and sound judgment. We will get that from Barack Obama.

We, Americans, must have economic policies based on what’s best for hard working families—not lobbyists, or special interests, or just the very wealthy—but for the vast majority of our people. We will get that from Barack Obama.

We, Americans, must have an energy policy which leads us to energy independence and stability. We will get that from Barack Obama.

This cornerstone of our economic security and national security cannot be left to shifts in the market or the whims of hostile dictators. America’s energy policy must be based on self reliance and the resources we have right here at home: from domestically produced natural gas, including liquefied natural gas from Alaska, to biomass, wind and solar—renewable, alternative energy sources, American energy sources.

In the end, I’m here tonight because I know the change we need requires a leader with a steely resolve, a powerful vision for our future and a passion for helping working people. The man you will nominate tomorrow is that leader−America’s next great president, Barack Obama.

Fairbanks blogger, Janiak, observes that if you want to really watch the DNC, go to C-SPAN. She sent me this critique of the corporate-friendly take of the CNN and 24-hour cable news coverage:

I was trying to watch the Demo convention on CNN-

First they featured the invocation, and then broke to interview Mitt Romney on the floor of the convention!!!!! Ick!

So I started flipping back and forth from C-Span- total coverage- to CNN-

CNN kept cutting to themselves analyzing what Hilary would say for the ten thousandth time, while totally ignoring what the actual convention speakers were saying, like Ann Richards daughter, a leader of Planned Parenthood, detailing how many time John McCain had voted against women’s issue, like insurance coverage for birth control.

On CNN an e-harmony (dating service) ad covers for a fiery Dennis Kucinich speech- “wake up America- the corporations are taking over America!!!”

“Not a call to go from right to left, but from Down to Up.” Go Dennis!! OK- to be fair, CNN does now have Kucinich on. Big Big cheers. Wonder what Wolfe Blitzer is going to say about that….

He sure did whip up the crowd, says Wolfe.

Now Gloria Borger is running at the mouth, covering up John Chiang, controller of California

And CNN is giving more air time to disgruntled Hilary supporters, while C-Span runs DNC promotional video, and cuts to Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisc. CNN is still on commentary.

Democracy Now is also doing excellent, truthful coverage.

I've been sign-waving, voting, teaching, meeting on a new music composing project, and helping our son Alex get ready for flying to Humboldt State in the morning to begin a new year of college. He would have gotten there already, but he's setting up on the stage of the Borealis Theater at the Alaska State Fair right now, to play his last gig of the summer with Static Cycle.

Off to Anchorage to join the Diane Benson crew for the election night coverage at the Egan Center. I won't be blogging on that until tomorrow, but I'll bring the iPhone for pictures.

We'll have some GREAT candidates tomorrow!

Meanwhile, St. Ted and his attorneys will saddle (that's saddle, not addle) the entire nation in the weeks leading up to the election with tawdry tales of sex between Bill and Bambi (in Ted's Gridwood playhouse?)...

image by Celtic Diva - or, possibly Morrigan

Diane Benson on Benson Boulevard

Image by Clark Yerrington

----->>> Go, Diane & Clean Elections!!!

Progressive Alaska's Endorsements

My hand-modified huge Diane Benson sign is ready. I've got my Carrharts, XTra Tuffs and Hellys ready to don, along with some waterproof gloves. I'll be down at the junction of Palmer-Wasilla and Trunk, standing next to the Alaskans for Clean Elections sign, until even the borough employees are at their desks, sipping their first cuppa.

With up to 200 visits per hour at PA recently, maybe this site's endorsements will help:

U.S. Senate: Mark Begich. The coat had little to do with swaying me. Mark convinced me back in May. Sorry, Ray, my good friend......... too many dots left unconnected for you to sell your case to me on Mark. Keep on doing what you're doing! You're my hero. Mark will be our Senator.

U.S. House: Diane Benson. Having worked closely with this remarkable Alaskan over the past 26 months, I've come to think of her as both a needed next step in growing beyond the faulty state legislative paradigm of the post-Hazelwood era, and think of her sometimes as the little sister I never had.

Ethan, for all the chutzpah he showed for 45 seconds during that notorious special session in 2006, was and remains too similar to old-school, 20th century political loyalty politics for what I believe to be necessary. His current fundraising, and the way it has elevated him to the status of "inevitable," is the best example on the Democratic Party side of the aisle, of why we need a Clean Elections initiative.

Diane Benson's growing awareness and grasp of the issues facing us, especially in the realms of women's & civil rights, health care, and ties to lobbyists, shows she is more than capable of both representing Alaskans, and of helping take the U.S. Congress in a new, more progressive direction.

The Ballot Measures: I'll let Kodiak Konfidential's Ishmael Melville's recommendations stand on their own merits:

Ballot Measure No. 1, Establishing a Gaming Commission: NO. I'm all in favor of gambling, but this is putting too much power in the hands of too few (three of the seven commissioners make a quorum!). Let the Legislature create what gambling the people see fit, then let a commission or department run it. This is just a thinly veiled attempt to create big gaming in Alaska without public input.

Ballot Measure No. 2, Adding grizzly (brown) bears to same-day airborne hunting ban and requiring all predator control hunting be done by state employees: YES. Just makes sense.

Ballot Measure No. 3, Clean Elections: YES. This will create a wholy voluntary system to provide public funding for elections. Best way I've ever heard to keep Corrupt Bastard Big Oil/VECO-style money out of politicians' hands. Remember it's totally voluntary.

Ballot Measure No. 4, the Clean Water Initiative: Big Hell YES. Salmon over gold, any day. Save our streams, help keep Pebble Mine in check and the lives and livilihoods of thousands of Alaskans safe and intact. Voting for Clean Water and Salmon is the real vote for jobs.

Gotta go out, get soaked, get my arms tired.

Go out there yourselves, folks - AND VOTE!

Writing Raven Rocks!

The two guys at left are Alaska Democratic Party delegates to the DNC, Chuck Degnan and Rex Okakok.

After the first day of the DNC, it is becoming obvious how much the blogging coverage by Writing Raven and Celtic Diva is adding to our understanding of how alaska issues are being dealt with there. Unfiltered through the corporate lens and corporate gatekeepers.

A case in point is Writing Raven's observation on how the Alaska delegates dealt with national Obama representative, Julie Anderson stated to a group that included the Alaska delegation, "I don't think Sen. Obama believes that is an appropriate place to be drilling at the moment."

Writing Raven covered the nuances of what happened next as well as any of Alaska's MSM reporters could have. And I'm already getting to appreciate her non-Anglocentric viewpoints.

image by Writing Raven

First Evening of Next Week's GOP Convention Leaked

from bravenewfilms.org.blog:

7:00 pm – Ceremonial burning of the U.S. Constitution
7:15 pm – Spiritual Medium Sylvia Browne performs psychic séance in desperate attempt to raise Ronald Reagan from the grave
7:35 pm – "The Pleasures of Adultery" - with Newt Gingrich & Rudy Giuliani
8:05 pm – Gay sex party in Men's Restroom hosted by Senator Larry Craig
8:35 pm - Transvestite Ann Coulter – "My Life as a Man"
8:55 pm – Live satellite feed from Federal Prison – Ohio Rep. Bob Ney
9:05 pm – Guest speaker ex-Florida Congressman Mark Foley " Joys with Young Boys"
9:25 pm – Oliver North – " Iran is Evil, but I sold them weapons anyway"
9:40 pm – Bill O' Reilly – " The costs of sexual harassment and phone sex with employees"
10:00 pm – Gay sex party in Men's Room hosted by Ken Mehlman and Geraldo Rivera
10:25 pm – Check John McCain to see if he's still breathing and if his adult diaper needs changed.
10:35 pm – N.R.A. President hosts an assault riffle target practice on Gays and Mexicans.
10:45 pm - Call emergency squad after a drunken Dick Cheney accidentally shoots his friend in the face.
11:00 pm – President Bush performs his hilarious comedy routine where he looks for Iraq's fictitious WMD's under guests tables.
11:15 pm – Governor Mike Huckabee does his famous uncanny imitation of Gomer Pyle.
11:20 pm – Group intervention to get Rush Limbaugh back into drug rehab
11: 45 pm – Go up on rooftop and throw rocks down at homeless Vets sleeping in alley.
12:00 am – Live satellite feed from Federal Prison – California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham
12:20 am – Convicted felon/Fox News analyst G. Gordon Liddy – Lock picking secrets
12: 40 am – Guest speakers Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz – "How to lie your Country into a War"
1:00 am – Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay – "Tips on Money Laundering"
1:15 am – Hookers arrive for after party

They left out:

12:30 am - Sen. Ted Stevens - "Tips on raising your house to a new level"
12:35 am - Rep. Don Young - "How to launder $1.25 million dollars from your campaign contributors to your criminal defense attorneys"

What a GREAT Day for an Election - The 88th Birthday of American Women's Right to Vote

Tuesday, August 26, 2008, is the 88th anniversary of the certification of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. When it was certified, the courageous woman on the far left of this photo, Ruth Sheridan, was a young girl. My mother had just celebrated her second birthday.

There have been many battles for women to fight, to gain niches here and there in their constant campaigns toward full equality. That parity with the rights of males hasn't yet been won.

In Alaska, there have always been some opportunities for women of strong character. I remember being struck, back in 1973, when I came to Cordova, at how few women were there, but also, how strong and unique so many of them were. At that time, though, there were many battles for women to fight for, to gain more equality in newer areas.

For instance, Title IX had been enacted in 1972, the previous year. It took awhile for its benefits to come to pass, but this past two weeks' Olympics showed the world hundreds of powerful American, woman athletes. This past June, Judy and I saw our daughter become an NCAA champion in a rowing program enabled by Title IX.

This evening, Judy and I watched Michelle Obama's extraordinarily stirring, emotionally powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention. She acknowledged battles fought and won, but called for us to engage in battles still unwon - equal pay for equal work, better early childhood education, a sane rebuilding of our medical care system.

Part of the seriousness of the battles still unwon, is in how casually the American media has totally distorted the accurate image of Michelle Obama. FOX, MSNBC and CNN all misrepresented her statements about her pride in our country, and observations she has had over the years as an African American woman.

But the woman we saw tonight, vividly describing her blue collar upbringing, education, life work and family life is someone - I hope - most Americans can embrace fully as a model person, student, sister and mom.

The fights women of color choose to sometimes fight against enormous odds in Alaska has many examples. Two of the most important have been drawn together in Diane Benson's story of the civil rights struggle of Tlingit activist, Elizabeth Peratrovich.

Diane Benson's two-and-a-half-year-long struggle to unseat Don Young, a representative who has more often left women's rights behind than has helped, her role in bringing Elizabeth Peratrovich's story to a wider audience, and the many almost countless aspects of her struggle for her own dignity and that of hundreds of others, will be looked upon in Alaska as historical.

It is fitting that the next stage of her battle, Tuesday's Alaska Primary, is on this 88th Anniversary of the certification of the nineteenth Amendment. No matter how the poll numbers end up tomorrow, she has contributed much, and will contribute a lot more to the story of women's rights and civil rights in Alaska.

Alaska's Bloggers Reporting in From the Democratic National Convention in Denver

Both Celtic Diva and Writing Raven have begun making regular posts from the DNC in Denver. Go check out their reporting. The Alaska Report's Dennis Zaki hasn't posted at his blog or his electronic journal yet, but I expect that will change within hours.

Celtic Diva hopes to get an interview in today with Fairbanks Mayor, Jim Whitaker, who wll be speaking tomorrow evening:

DENVER - The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) and the Obama for America campaign announced today that two prominent Republicans will address the Democratic National Convention on Monday, August 25, 2008 and Tuesday, August 26, 2008. Former United States Congressman Jim Leach and Fairbanks Alaska Mayor Jim Whitaker will speak about Barack Obama's record of bringing Republicans, Independents and Democrats together to bring change and his vision for unifying our country.

Former Congressman Jim Leach will speak on Monday, August 25, 2008. The opening night of the Convention, themed as "One Nation", will highlight Barack Obama's life story, his commitment to change, and the voices of Americans calling for a new direction for this country. Michelle Obama will be the keynote speaker on Monday night and the Convention will feature a video tribute to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Fairbanks Mayor Jim Whitaker will speak on Tuesday, August 26, 2008. Tuesday night, themed as "Renewing America’s Promise" will focus on Americans' concerns about the economy, rising healthcare costs and the need to expand educational opportunities for all. United States Senator Hillary Clinton will be the keynote speaker on Tuesday night.

Former United States Congressman Jim Leach represented southeastern Iowa in the US Congress from 1977-2007 and earned a reputation as one of the most respected foreign policy experts in Washington. Jim Whitaker is the Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska. Leach and Whitaker endorsed Barack Obama earlier this month.

Writing Raven commented yesterday about aspects of the security around the convention site. Dennis sent this e-mail to friends:

I'm in the land of Obama. It's beautiful as always in Colorado today. I lived here off and on for 10 years and loved ever minute of it. I'm tempted to move here for the winter - and I've only been here two hours. The place is crawling with cops, media, and secret service snipers...... I forgot what they look like living in Palmer... I guess the cops are expecting a war. I was in a great riot here in 1987 for the MLK day vs the KKK festivities. I even got tear gassed! It was awesome. Great for pics... I finally got my fancy new video camera and will be shooting everything that moves. I'll post pics and video on my blog when I get a chance.

Another great blogging site for the behind-the-scenes events, is firedoglake's Campaign Silo.