The Alaskan Primary

Tuesday was the primary election for Alaska. While the state held a Republican primary and a Democratic caucus for the Presidential race back on Super Tuesday (with the state being won by Barack and Mitt), the primaries for the other races were held off until today. This also marked the first time that Adria or I had needed to go to a polling place to vote as Oregon moved to vote-by-mail prior to our being able to vote. We both felt that going to a physical place was a more rewarding experience than vote-by-mail. Plus you get a sticker when you turn your ballot in.

This election cycle figures to be an interesting one as Don Young, Alaska's long-time Representative, and Ted Stevens, Alaska's even longer-time Senator, both are facing stiff challenges in their re-election bids. Stevens will face Anchorage's mayor Mark Begich in the general election. This is, if he isn't a convicted felon by then. Don Young is currently about 200 votes ahead of his closest challenger Sean Parnell with the absentee ballots still to be counted. Their race turned surreal last week when both Parnell and Young appeared on the same talk radio program where in response to a caller asking the 75-year old Don Young how much longer he intended to stay in office, Young replied:

"I'm more physically capable than most people in this room. ... I challenge anybody in this room if they want to go three rounds with me down at Sullivan Arena,"