Next act for Palin unclear after Alaska House losses
WASHINGTON (AP) – Even before President Barack Obama decided to move forward with his campaign and political agenda in the second year of his second term, the political landscape in the nation’s second-most-populous state was beginning to shift.
The landscape here this week is beginning to make Republicans sound as if they know what’s coming. Republicans here are starting to sound as if they are already thinking ahead to the next election.
“I don’t think there is any way the state can be red as far as the governor runs,” said state Rep. Mark Schauer, R-Soldotna.
It’s not that President Barack Obama and his allies have won a landslide of electoral votes in November. It’s that the race to succeed Alaska’s Republican former governor, Sarah Palin, isn’t even really over.
In Alaska this week, the political landscape is beginning to shift. The state’s GOP has already sounded as if it knows what’s coming.
The race for governor is down to the final day with just a week to go in the Republican primary. But with Alaska’s political dynamic shifting, Democrats are already sounding as if they know what’s coming in the next two years.
The Republican party and the National Republican Congressional Committee are still working on a final plan to field the full slate of candidates in the state.
In an era when states are choosing their governors, the race for Alaska’s first-in-the-nation congressional district is shaping up to be one of the nation’s most interesting races.
The contest between two well-known Republicans already playing to a national audience has the political world buzzing. But when it comes to Alaska, it’s all about the politics there. How the GOP manages to put forward a credible statewide candidate without bringing Alaska’s voters to the polls.
With voters still being asked to cast ballots on the issue, Republicans say they just don’t want to get them out too early. It’s one that they worry could backfire on them.
“We don’t want to use the state’s vote at the same time we’re trying to unseat Congressmen who are there at this time because they’re trying to be helpful and friendly to the state,” said state Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Anchorage.
The candidates are already beginning to compete