While Rep. Don Young appears entrenched until death do us part in Alaska's lone Congressional seat, 29-year old Forrest Dunbar has emerged as his most intriguing challenger to date.
First of all, he is taking actual potshots at the Paul Ryan/Don Young budget in this U-tube video.
http://youtu.be/...
In addition, Forrest Young's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/...
indicates the Ivy League graduate and Alaska Young Democrat has an excellent mix of light-hearted humor along with some spirited sic-em toward 80-year old Rep. Don Young, currently seeking his 22nd term for US Congress representing the state of Alaska.
Do not underestimate the power of young Democrats in Alaska. Two years ago, Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, then a 25-year recent graduate of Yale, defeated several term Alaska Representative and co-chair of House Finance Committee, Bill Thomas (R).
Kreiss-Tomkins was named one of the country's 40 most outstanding young leaders recently by the Washington Post.
Forrest Dunbar's clearly serious "Forrest for Alaska" webpage has his bio, his take on issues, and your opportunity to donate.
http://www.forrestforalaska.com/
Forrest is a lifelong Alaskan whose parents moved to Alaska in 1978. Forrest was born in 1984, and the family spent the next seven years living in Eagle, on the Yukon River. Eagle is near the range of the Fortymile Caribou Herd, and to this day caribou is Forrest’s favorite type of meat...
After completing college and serving in the Peace Corps, Forrest earned an MPP/JD from the Harvard Kennedy School and Yale Law School. He spent his summers in Alaska, first representing low-income families with Alaska Legal Services, and then oil companies and native corporations for two Anchorage firms. Following law school, Forrest did research on Alaska’s drug laws, searching for policies that protected the public while being fiscally responsible and giving drug-users a chance for rehabilitation.
Today Forrest lives in Anchorage, where he is a member of Congregation Beth Sholom. He serves on the board of the You Choose Project, a non-profit working to prevent drug and alcohol abuse among Alaskan youth, is active in the Alaska Young Democrats, and recently commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Alaska Army National Guard.
On issues:
Veterens:
...Aside from Medicaid, there are a variety of other programs for veterans that need protecting and strengthening. Programs that help vets transition back to civilian employment are crucial for the health of our society, especially in a time of war. So is ongoing research and treatment for PTSD and traumatic brain injury, which affects far more of our veterans than previously understood, and for all manner of injuries veterans sustain-- on and off the battlefield.
The bottom line is this: veterans served our country, and volunteered to potentially make the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them our respect, our support, and the best efforts of our policymakers.
Equality:
...Alaska was the first state to ban gay marriage in our constitution. Let us transcend that ugly past, remove that language from our state constitution, and stand up for full equality for our LGBT community.
Campaign Finance Reform:
Our current campaign finance system is a disaster. The "Citizens United" decision handed down by the Supreme Court contradicted the desires of the American people and the vision of the ratifiers of the U.S. Constitution. Nevertheless, there are creative, statutory solutions that could be passed-- within the framework demanded by our current Court-- that would move our "pay to play" system back towards the "one person, one vote" ideal demanded by our republican values.
Higher Education:
Take meaningful action to reduce the cost of college and vocational education
The United States has rightly decided to invest in post-secondary education by providing comparatively low-interest loans to students. The problem is that with this subsidy in place universities can continue to increase costs wildly out of line with inflation, knowing that the federal government will pick up the tab. This has in turn caused an explosion in student loan debt that is drowning the younger generations. We need to take direct action to reduce college costs, including threatening the availability of federal student loans for universities that allow their costs to spiral out of control.
On resource development, he takes the standard inevitable Alaska position in support of responsible development of Alaska's oil and gas resources, yet we will expect some more moderate tones and support for a greener energy policy in the US from Forrest Dunbar than we could ever expect from Rep. Don Young.
Stay tuned for a lively race for the US House in Alaska in 2014.