This is pathetic:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
A vote on a birth control coverage bill has caused a bit of awkwardness between Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R) and Mark Begich (D).
Murkowski was one of three Republicans who voted with Senate Democrats on Wednesday to advance a bill that would have required all for-profit companies to cover birth control regardless of the owners' religious beliefs. The bill fell short of the 60 votes it needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. But when Begich said in a statement that he was proud to have stood with Murkowski on the issue, she demanded to be removed from his press release.
Murkowski's spokesman, Matthew Felling, told The Huffington Post that while the senator did vote in favor of proceeding to a debate on the birth control bill, she did not vote to pass it and would need to see the final bill before making up her mind.
"Yesterday was a procedural vote, and we did not think that [Begich] made that clear in his release," Felling said. "He also spoke on behalf of Senator Murkowski, and we did not think it was appropriate for a senator to characterize the motivations and intent of another senator."
Begich's office had to send a new statement and press release hours after sending the first one. The original release noted that Murkowski had voted with Begich in favor of the measure.
“I am proud to stand with Senator Murkowski, because we both know that Alaskan women want to make their decisions about reproductive care based upon the recommendation of their doctors – not the religious beliefs of their bosses," Begich said in the original statement. "This bill is common sense and I will keep fighting to protect all Alaskans’ privacy – including women’s access to affordable birth control and other critical health care services.” - Huffington Post, 7/17/14
Murkowski, who is not up for re-election this year, is trying to distance herself from Begich so she won't be credited for helping him win re-election:
http://www.adn.com/...
A new campaign ad from Democratic Sen. Mark Begich spotlights his relationship with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, saying the two vote together as much as 80 percent of the time.
But Murkowski is pushing back, saying that in spite of their cooperation on key Alaska issues, she and Begich are not as close as the ad would lead listeners to believe.
“Let’s just put it this way: You can make the numbers work to your advantage,” Murkowski said in a phone interview Tuesday. While the two may agree on many Alaska-specific matters, she said, when it comes to national issues, “there is a real departure between where Mark stands and where I stand.”
Begich, who was first elected to the Senate in 2008, is locked in a tight re-election battle with three Republicans.
His new 60-second radio spot features Skip Nelson, who says he flew fighter jets in Vietnam and the Gulf War and now runs an aviation safety business at Anchorage’s Merrill Field.
Nelson praises Begich’s support for his industry and notes that Murkowski also has “a deep understanding of aviation.”
“Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich vote as much as 80 percent of the time together — that’s healthy for Alaska. I have a great dislike for partisan politics,” Nelson says. “I think Lisa and Mark are a great team for Alaska. I’d like to keep them there.”
According to Begich’s campaign, the 80 percent figure — actually 80.8 percent, or 148 out of 183 votes — represents all of this year’s Senate roll call votes when both senators were present. (Roll call votes are those in which each senator’s position is recorded.)
The two vote together more often than any other Democrat-Republican Senate pair in the country, a spokesman for Begich pointed out, citing a separate set of figures compiled by the website OpenCongress — though those figures reach all the way back to the beginning of 2013 and say that Alaska’s senators voted together 65 percent of the time, as opposed to the 80 percent cited in Begich's ad.
The spokesman for Begich, Max Croes, also cited an array of national issues on which the two senators are aligned, from their support for comprehensive immigration reform and abortion rights to preserving Second Amendment rights, to voting for a bill that aims to protect workers from pay discrimination based on race, gender or other factors.
“This record shows that Alaska’s team in Washington works together to represent the state,” Croes wrote in an email. - Alaska Dispatch News, 7/15/14
Republicans are really trying hard not to screw this race up and some big name Republicans are staying out of it:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Sarah Palin’s political action committee gave $40,000 to congressional candidates during the last quarter but none from Alaska.
Palin, a former Alaska governor, has not weighed in on the Republican race for U.S. Senate in the state. In 2010, she backed tea party favorite Joe Miller in a race won with a write-in campaign by incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Palin’s SarahPAC reported bringing in about $460,000 from April through June. She ended the period with about $970,000 on hand. - Washington Post, 7/14/14
Right now, the GOP candidates are duking it out to be the one to take on Begich. Tea Party Wild Card Joe Miller (R. AK) has been really hitting Dan Sullivan (R. AK) and Mead Treadwell (R. AK) hard on these issues:
http://www.westernjournalism.com/...
He started with the hot-button issue of the day: amnesty.
Miller asserted that one of his opponents, Mead Treadwell, has a documented history of supporting a path toward citizenship for illegal aliens. He also noted that his other primary rival, Dan Sullivan, has received significant funding – hundreds of thousands of dollars – from organizations that support amnesty.
He also touched on global warming, explaining he is the only candidate with a proven track record of disputing the left’s assertion that man is to blame for changes in the climate.
Gun control provided another opportunity for Miller to separate himself from at least one of his opponents. He criticized Sullivan of failing to act on behalf of law-abiding gun owners by supporting Stand Your Ground laws that allow the use of force in certain situations.
Finally, he brought up his 2010 race, which ended in a close bout with incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. He said both Treadwell and Sullivan supported the moderate Murkowski at that time and are now asking for the support of conservative Alaskan voters.
“How can either Treadwell or Sullivan argue Begich should be replaced by either of them when both supported a candidate who votes with our state’s Democrat senator 80 percent of the time?” he asked. - Western Journalism, 7/17/14
Treadwell is turning up the crazy:
http://washington.cbslocal.com/...
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Mead Treadwell says the IRS should be abolished.
Treadwell, who is also Alaska’s lieutenant governor, said the agency has lost the trust of the American people. He said he supports a “fair tax” instead, and would provide a more detailed statement on what that would entail.
Treadwell said the Republican candidates were asked about tax policy at a debate in Homer this week. He said the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status shows a fraudulent use of IRS authority. - CBS DC, 7/17/14
Treadwell has been gaining in the polls and Begich knows this:
http://www.newsminer.com/...
Criticism from the campaign to reelect Sen. Mark Begich is apparently not just for Dan Sullivan anymore.
The incumbent senator's campaign turned negative weeks ago on Sullivan -- the former natural resources commissioner seen by many as the Republican frontrunner -- after attack ads and statements from Sullivan's campaign.
But a more recent series of Begich campaign statements sent to reporters seems to be targeting one of Sullivan's primary election opponents, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, more directly. And that might be due to Treadwell closing the gap between himself and Sullivan in the latest poll to be released publicly.
In a written statement this week, the Begich campaign said a digital trademarking company Treadwell started in 1995, Digimarc, lobbied for the controversial REAL ID program, which would require states to provide drivers' license information to a national database. Digimarc earned hundreds of millions of dollars providing technology for REAL ID, the Begich campaign said.
Treadwell often says the government "snoops too much," the Begich campaign said, so why is he profiting from REAL ID, which Alaskans rejected as an invasion of privacy? - News Miner, 7/16/14
And Treadwell could run into this issue:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/...
Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell has made opposition to the 2009 stimulus part of his campaign for a Republican Senate nomination. But he also served on the board of a company that took stimulus funds.
Treadwell served a six-year stint as a board member for Ellicott Dredges, a company that manufactures dredging equipment, starting in 2003. Toward the end of his tenure in 2009, the company received a $1.76 million dollar grant for training and equipment upgrades, and in 2010, after he had left the board, the federal government used stimulus funds to buy a hydraulic dredge from the company for $4.1 million.
Running as a fiscal conservative, Treadwell has mocked the stimulus law. In February, his campaign released a cheeky statement “wishing [incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark] Begich a happy anniversary” on the five-year anniversary of his vote for it.
“We were told this package would help our economy and jump start businesses,” the statement said. “Now we know it's just another case of government spending too much and placing the price tag on the backs of future generations.” - Washington Examiner, 7/17/14
It remains to be seen who will come out the victor in the GOP primary next month:
http://www.adn.com/...
Polls tracking the Republican primary in Alaska's closely watched U.S. Senate contest present very different views of voter mood, with local polling firms showing a tight race between front-runners Dan Sullivan and Mead Treadwell and Lower 48 polling companies giving Sullivan a comfy lead.
The Treadwell team points to the close numbers as evidence the race has narrowed since May, when two Outside polling firms showed Sullivan with a double-digit lead. The “Treadwell surge” will cause Sullivan to step up his personal attacks on Treadwell, said Tom Intorcio, Treadwell's spokesman.
"We expect that Mead Treadwell is next on the hit list," Intorcio said.
Sullivan’s campaign said it’s the one gaining ground.
The differing results raise questions about whether Alaska firms, with their in-state experience, are better at measuring the state's notoriously hard-to-grasp voters. Or are the Outside firms getting it right? Only time will tell.
“There’s a lot of ways for data to be skewed,” said Mark Hellenthal of Hellenthal and Associates in Anchorage, such as the way questions are presented or results are interpreted.
It’s very possible the primary race has always been tight, said Hellenthal, a view reinforced by officials with two other Anchorage polling firms, Dittman Research and Ivan Moore Research.
That would suggest the Outside polls, for whatever reason, may have been wrong.
Hellenthal’s results gave Sullivan the widest lead at 4.3 points (Sullivan 34.8 percent, Treadwell 30.5). Dittman Research gave Sullivan the smallest lead at 2 points (Sullivan 37 percent, Treadwell 35). - Alaska Dispatch New, 7/10/14
And Sullivan will have Karl Rove to thank:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/...
American Crossroads President Steven Law said the candidates' connections to Bush "are not a factor in our decision-making process." He noted that Ryan was one of Stefanik's biggest champions, encouraging donors and outside groups to get involved for her campaign. (Another Republican campaign official said that the involvement was spurred by top Crossroads donor Paul Singer, who is trying to help elect more Republican women to Congress.) And in the Alaska race, Law said the group endorsed Sullivan because of his fundraising capability, a factor enhanced by his ties to former administration officials. The group hasn't yet spent money or reserved ad time on behalf of Senate nominee Ed Gillespie of Virginia, a former Bush official and Crossroads adviser.
"You have to prioritize where you think you can have the most significant impact. Our primary [campaign] involvement goes through a but-for test—but for our engagement, would we be able to make a meaningful difference in the race?" said Law. The New York race "is one where if there wasn't additional spending on the outside, Doheny would have won the primary and lost again in the general."
To be sure, Crossroads' decisions have proven to be strategically sound, helping stronger candidates prevail through difficult primaries. In Doheny, Stefanik faced a flawed candidate who lost the district twice before and had been photographed making out with one of his fundraising consultants. Sullivan, meanwhile, boasted a compelling resume as a Marine Corps officer, presidential adviser, and statewide officeholder in Alaska. He proved his fundraising viability before Crossroads backed his campaign, while his leading Republican opponent, Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, has struggled to put together a professional operation.
But critics of the group's tactics argue that valuable resources were diverted to an inconsequential House primary, when other Republican establishment groups were fighting to save Sen. Thad Cochran's career in Mississippi, and by extension, the GOP's Senate prospects. After Cochran finished second in the initial primary, Crossroads publicly telegraphed it wasn't doing anything more to help the embattled incumbent for the runoff. Crossroads has also stayed out of other contested Republican primaries where the quality of the nominee made a big difference, like in Georgia and Iowa. By contrast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has played an outsize role in nominating fights this cycle, aired ads in those races on behalf of Joni Ernst and Rep. Jack Kingston.
Meanwhile, using Rice as a validator in the Alaska television ad struck several Republican operatives as tone-deaf, given that Sullivan was trying to rebut criticism that he wasn't closely connected to Alaska. Utilizing Rice as his leading surrogate only underscored his connections to Washington. As one GOP strategist put it: "There aren't many African-American voters in Alaska." - National Journal, 7/10/14
But Sullivan is still leading his primary opponents in terms of fundraising:
http://www.adn.com/...
The campaign of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan on Tuesday said it raised over $1 million in the second quarter of this year, putting it close to on par with incumbent Sen. Mark Begich, a Democrat.
Sullivan’s campaign said in an email Tuesday morning it had raised “almost $1.2 million” in the second quarter, which compares to $1.25 million raised by Begich’s campaign. Sullivan’s spokesman, Mike Anderson, said a precise figure would be available later in the day.
Sullivan’s campaign now has $1.7 million in the bank, Anderson said, which is less than the $2.15 million in Begich’s account. But Anderson said the gap has narrowed from the end of the last quarter, when Begich had $2.8 million and Sullivan had $1.9 million. - Alaska Dispatch News, 7/15/14
But Begich is still kicking ass in terms of fundraising:
http://www.adn.com/...
Alaska Sen. Mark Begich brought in $1.3 million in the fundraising quarter that ended in June, a slight bump up from the $1.1 million raised during the previous quarter. Campaigns have until July 15 to turn their contribution reports in to the Federal Elections Commission, but the Begich campaign released some early numbers on Thursday. National groups and donors have dumped millions of dollars into the U.S. Senate race, with Alaska considered a battleground state as Republicans and Democrats vie for control. The money raised by Begich is slightly less than the $1.4 million raised during the previous quarter by former attorney general Dan Sullivan, the fundraising leader in the Republican primary. Begich spent $1.9 million in the current quarter. He has $2.2 million cash on hand. More than 5,000 Alaskans have donated to Begich in this campaign cycle, beating the number of Alaskans who gave for his 2008 win, said Max Croes, a spokesman for the Begich campaign. - Alaska Dispatch News, 7/10/14
So is Begich's Super PAC:
http://www.adn.com/...
The independent group that has been supporting Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich’s re-election efforts reported Monday that it had raised $3.6 million between April 1 and June 30, with almost all the money coming from another group in Washington, D.C., that supports Senate Democrats.
The pro-Begich group, a so-called super PAC named Put Alaska First, said it raised about $3.5 million from the Senate Majority PAC, which is controlled by former aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
It also collected $50,000 from local businessman B.J. Gottstein and $25,000 from a California casino that’s owned and operated by a Native American tribe. - Alaska Dispatch News, 7/14/14
And Begich is going to be getting a special guest on the campaign trail:
http://www.adn.com/...
U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez this weekend is taking an official trip to Alaska, where he’ll advocate for an increase of the national minimum wage and also headline a joint fundraiser for Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and the Alaska Democratic Party.
Perez will be in the state Saturday through Monday, with official appearances at local businesses and job-training centers in Fairbanks, Palmer and Anchorage, said Xochitl Hinojosa, the press secretary for the labor department.
“He believes that you have to make house calls to understand what’s happening across the country,” she said.
Perez will also appear at the fundraiser for Begich, which is being held Sunday at an Anchorage home with several local labor leaders including Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO. A labor group also is expecting Perez to make an appearance at a campaign kickoff event in Anchorage on Monday evening.
Hinojosa said that Perez travels regularly across the country, and that his trip was organized by the Department of Labor.
She said in a follow-up email that the state’s entire congressional delegation has been invited to Perez’s official events, and that Begich has confirmed his attendance.
Perez’s itinerary starts Saturday with a trip to a bookstore and café in Fairbanks to push for an increase in the national minimum wage. President Barack Obama has asked Congress to boost the rate to $10.10 an hour, up from $7.25, though Alaska’s is currently $7.75 and voters will decide in November whether to raise it to $9.75 by Jan. 1, 2016. - Alaska Dispatch New, 7/17/14
With raising the minimum wage and medical marijuana on the ballot, Republicans should be nervous about voter turnout delivering for Begich. They should also be worried about this:
http://www.alternet.org/...
Alaska’s Mark Fish or Thom Walker. These men are competing to be the party’s Senate nominee. According to Alaska politicos, Fish, an ex-state Libertarian Party chair and campaign worker for Sarah Palin, is favored. He spent five years on Alaska’s Human Rights Commission, but did not seek reappointment after getting into trouble for blogging that “radical feminists” were out to purge the Earth of men. Fish wrote, “Yes, folks, elements of this group actually belief (sic) men have no value and through science they can eliminate men from the face of the earth.”
It’s unfortunate that he’s seen as the frontrunner, because Walker appears to be more interesting of the two. Nonetheless, pollsters say that any Libertarian could take 5 percent of the vote. That clearly would help incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Begich.
Walker is an assistant manager at the University of Alaska’s Toolik Field station in the Arctic. The WaPo noted he “only has a web presence on Facebook, where he posts photos of kayak trips and his dog.” Alaska's current Libertarian chair told AmandaCoyne.com, “He’s not a viable candidate if he can’t answer his phone.” Actually, his Facebook page is filled with entries slamming the federal government for interfering in people’s lives. And there is a photoshopped picture of him holding a four-foot long fish. - AlterNet, 7/9/14
So we shall see. Begich is focused on this race but also focused on his job:
http://www.ktuu.com/...
The U.S. State Department’s appointment of the first U.S. Special Representative to the Arctic, former Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr., was announced Wednesday. Former Lt. Gov. and University of Alaska Anchorage Chancellor Fran Ulmer, currently serving as chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, was named a special advisor to the department on Arctic science and policy.
Both of Alaska’s U.S. senators say they have been pushing hard for the establishment of an ambassador-level Arctic representative in general, and Papp’s selection in particular. In a Wednesday statement, Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she has repeatedly brought up Papp’s name with Secretary of State John Kerry since the job became available.
“With a dynamic region like the Arctic, you cannot have a Beltway bureaucrat dropped in for ‘on the job training,’ you need an individual with credibility and experience in the region and a proven ability to work with communities in the U.S. and circumpolar Arctic,” Murkowski said. “Admiral Papp’s knowledge base of the Arctic is as vast as the region itself.”
In a matching statement, Sen. Mark Begich says he has been asking for the staffing of such a position since his election nearly six years ago.
“I’ve worked with Admiral Papp for years, traveled to America’s Arctic with him and know he will be effective in standing up for American interests in this increasingly important part of the world,” Begich said. “One of his first actions needs to be a visit to America’s only Arctic state of Alaska to see first-hand the impacts, opportunities and challenges of climate change in the Arctic.” - KTUU, 7/16/14
And he's been looking out for Alaska Natives tribes:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposal Friday under the Clean Water Act that would limit mining activity in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, striking a major blow to a project that would rank as one of the world's largest open-pit mines.
The proposed determination, which will now be subject to a public comment period until Sept. 19, represents the latest step by the Obama administration to impose restrictions on a massive gold and copper mining project, called Pebble Mine. Native Alaskan tribes, commercial fishing operations and environmentalists who have been seeking to block the venture on the grounds that discharge from its operations could harm the area that supports nearly half of the world’s sockeye salmon.
Dennis McLerran, the regional administrator for EPA Region 10, told reporters Friday the agency had concluded that even a mine much smaller than the one currently envisioned by Pebble's sponsors would produce "almost unfathomable amounts of rock" which "posed significant risks to the fragile ecosystem" in Bristol Bay.
The EPA was taking this step "to protect the world’s largest salmon greatest fishery what would certainly be one of the world’s largest open pit mine developments ever conceived of," he said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has repeatedly warned EPA not to issue a “preemptive veto” against Pebble Mine, though Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and other Democratic senators from the Pacific Northwest such as Maria Cantwell (Wash.) have argued it poses too great a risk to the wild fishery.
“The EPA is being disingenuous in saying that this decision is only going to impact mining in a particular area of Alaska,” said Murkowski in a statement, noting that she is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border right now and is still reviewing the documents. “The EPA is setting a precedent that strips Alaska and all Alaskans of the ability to make decisions on how to develop a healthy economy on their lands. This is a blueprint that will be used across the county to stop economic development.”
But opponents of the mine emphasized the prescribed nature of the proposal: Begich issued a statement Friday saying it "applies only to the Pebble deposit."
"The limited scope is critical and means the determination would not affect mining or any other resource development project in other parts of the state. As I’ve often stated, I believe Pebble is the wrong mine in the wrong place," he said. "However, I remain a strong supporter of the mining industry and mines in other regions of Alaska and remain committed to ensuring that this process does not allow any precedent to be set that could restrict other responsible mining projects in Alaska or the U.S.." - Washington Post, 7/18/14
With the Kochs, Karl Rove and the Club for Growth spending big to defeat Begich, we have to be ready. Begich is no stranger to tough races and he can win re-election but he will need our help. Click here to donate and get involved with Begich's campaign:
http://www.markbegich.com/