If Mark Begich (D-AK) beats Stevens for the Senate, say buh-bye to Sarah Palin once and for all!

[jenmito]

She's dying for Stevens to win so she can take his seat in the Senate and then we'll have to see more and more of her along with all the speculation for '12. But if the Dem. wins, she'll just be governor of Alaska cooking mooseburgers.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Something very sweet and ironic about the results

so far -- it looks like the spoiler is Bob Bird from the Alaska Independence Party.

Begich, Mark DEM 132196 47.41%
Bird, Bob AI 11315 4.06%
Gianoutsos, Ted NA 1140 0.41%
Haase, Fredrick D. LIB 2086 0.75%
Stevens, Ted REP 131382 47.12%
Write-in Votes 718 0.26%

If Ted had those 11,000 votes, he'd be well ahead, and Sarah would still have her shot at his seat. It just makes me kind of smile inside.

Alaskans have a big responsibility now to make sure that Sarah doesn't run for Lisa Murkowski's seat in 2010. Lisa's a Republican for sure, and she may have hurt herself somewhat by strongly supporting Ted during this election, but at least she's got a brain and is a moderate. Sarah would be a disaster in the Senate.

I personally think she's going to have a hard time maintaining her popularity in the state after the way she's embarrassed so many of us during this election season -- plus the fact that state oil revenues are going to be way down from where they've been. She might actually have to do some real budget work when the legislature reconvenes, and I don't know if she can handle it.

[Mike Daniels]

5. I think her future depends on Stevens winning and then her running in the special election

If Stevens loses I think she gradually fades away esp. given that the more time she's just the governor the more time she has to piss off the people she needs in order to run for Senate in 2010.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. That's exactly my thought.

She alienated a lot of her former Democratic supporters in the legislature with her partisanship on the campaign trail, and the personal attacks by the so-called "Palin Truth Squad" on Walt Monegan didn't go over well at all.

She keeps saying it was all in the rough-and-tumble of national politics, and that we need to "move on" now, but I doubt it's going to be that easy.

[JFN1]

40. Do you think she could win that election?

I wonder if Alaskans are as sick of her as the rest of us. Her favorable ratings have declined since she was named as running mate...

[BrklynLiberal]

2. ..and there are some people in AK who would like her to be impeached..

so she can stay home and bake cookies alllllllll day...

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Yep,

cookin' that moose stew and them halibut and salmon casseroles. You go, girl. :rofl:

[BrklynLiberal]

25. Can't wait for her to be on the FOOD CHANNEL>>>

[spinbaby]

26. EEEEEEEEWWWWWW!

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[BrklynLiberal]

32. Sorry..I did not mean to ruin your entire day...

:hi:

[az chela]

4. Please please please let stevens lose

[Johonny]

6. I doubt it

She is a republican after all. Tom Delay is apparently still welcome for comment even on MSNBC. Heck Foley is still available and willing to give interviews. You have the people directly involved in watergate still seen as respected voices. There is simply no sign that the Republican party nor the mass media has any standard by which we could assume she will go away. I fully expect her to "govern" Alaska from a FOX studio by January.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. If she ends up being a "talking head" on TV

I'm fine with that. Just keep her out of government.

[jenmito]

10. If she gets a show on Faux all we'd have to do is not watch Faux....

which would be easy to do.

[Wildewolfe]

12. On the bright side...

... SNL, Stewart and Colbert will have great material to keep us entertained while the adults in the country fix things.

[jenmito]

15. But Tina Fey won't be playing her anymore...

so that's not such a plus.

[CakeGrrl]

19. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it keeps her from national office! n/t

[jenmito]

22. Same here.

[Smuckies]

7. Crossing my fingers. nt

[Disturbed]

14. Her ego is the size of Alaska. Her VP run has blown her

self importance up even further. Now that her Cult has expanded in the states beyond Alaska, only Impeachment & being fired or recalled will stop her craving for more power & celeb status.

[ErinBerin84]

11. she'll probably get a "book deal" (hey, more work for Mark Salter!)

and do a widespread media tour for it, haha. But I agree, hope that she doesn't get the seat.

[jenmito]

13. That's ok...

as long as she doesn't have any power in govt.

[WI_DEM]

16. I don't think she will seek a second term as governor, but will devote her time after 2010

running for president as the candidate of toothless dingbats with guns.

[jenmito]

18. If she doesn't even remain a GOVERNOR, there's no way she'll win the Repub. nomination

in '12.

[WI_DEM]

23. That's not true. Jimmy Carter left the governorship of GA in 1975 after a single term

and was nominated in 1976. Ronald Reagan hadn't served elective office for five years when he won the GOP nomination in 1980--he ran in 1976, but didn't win, but won the allegiance of conservatives. Richard Nixon lost the presidency in '60 and governorship of CA in '62 but came to win the nomination in 1968. She was the one who turned on the conservative base in 2008, not McCain and that's her base that she will play to if she runs in 2012 as Governor or not, I say not, because it will give her a chance to campaign more. It's more difficult to campaign as a sitting governor of Alaska than a sitting governor of any other state. Besides she said on Larry King last night that she "intends to serve out my term as governor" and then see what happens after that. To me that is an indication that she won't run again, but will seek the presidency.

[Johonny]

27. If the last two primary process was the answer

Those candidates out of office (and one would assume not responsible for the current mess) did rather poorly. Even when given huge hype by the media. I think Palin with no functioning public role would struggle to find support among primary voters.

[WI_DEM]

29. that may be, but it depends on who she is running against. I don't rule her out

as the potential nominee.

[jenmito]

30. Comparing Palin to Carter, Reagan, etc. doesn't really work. She's governor

of the 2nd-to-least populated state and is already seen as a joke except to a very small segment of the population.

[BrklynLiberal]

34. and she has already alienated the Rupubs in her state...and the Dems sure don't want her.

I am rooting for her imminent impeachment and disappearance down the memory hole.

[jenmito]

37. True. I bet her approval rating in AK is nowhere NEAR where it used to be.

I'm hoping for Stevens to lose and then for HER to lose for WHATEVER she runs for next.

[Blue_In_AK]

42. It isn't,, and I'm really not believing that it's even 60% now

as the pollsters say. I want to see what her approval rating will be around January or so when the legislature reconvenes and she has to start dealing with all of her unresolved issues and a shrinking budget. Incidentally, the Democrats picked up several seats in the Alaska state legislature. We are currently tied in the Senate 10-10; the House is 22 R's, 18 D's, with one of the R's being only 32 votes ahead.

This isn't too bad a split for us, so I think Sarah's excessive partisanship during the campaign is going to come back to bite her.

[jenmito]

43. That's good to hear...

especially from someone who lives there. :hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

46. I keep up with the comments to articles and blogs

on the Anchorage Daily News website, and either Sarah's detractors are more vocal than her supporters or there are just REALLY a lot more detractors out there now.

I'm waiting to see how the opinions are running a couple months from now when we stop seeing so much traffic from Lower 48 commenters. ... 49, excuse me. I notice that Sarah has taken to saying Lower 49 (a term that's NEVER used up here. Some Hawaiian must have called her on it. :rofl: )

[4themind]

17. With the cost of oil nowadays

She may find the senate more preferable to balancing budgets without such a huge influx of oil dollars. After "spreading the wealth" to Alaskans through that money is pretty popular up their and surely bolstered her ratings to the high level now/before.

[Blue_In_AK]

39. I always assumed she'd challenge Lisa Murkowski in 2010

before all this VP stuff came up. Hopefully, she'll self-destruct when she finally comes back her to govern. With oil down, our budget surpluses will dwindle and she might actually have to DO something other than just throw money around.

[FLyellowdog]

20. That's all I want for Christmas...plus my two front teeth.

:rofl:

[jenmito]

21. I don't blame you.

:D

[Tribetime]

24. she can't stand being out of the spotlight

maybe she can do a reality show. How to marry a hillbilly

[jenmito]

28. They're SLAMMING her on MSNBC. Shuster and Capehart are discussing how she did

nothing more than recycle old campaign rhetoric today at the Repub. Governors' Conference. They also slammed her "stunning lack of knowledge" regarding the details of the economic problems and bailout.

[CakeGrrl]

38. Matthews show sounds like it'll be 'All About the Gov' today

Let's see whether she's panned there too - and see what they thought about her getting cut off by Rick Perry.

[jenmito]

41. Yeah, they'll cover her "press conference" today which was was a joke-

took about 3 questions, and then her speech where she brought up "Joe the Plumber," "Tito the Builder," and other old topics that NOBODY cares about. I'm sure they'll talk about her in a negative light. And I'm sure we'll all love it.

[yellowcanine]

31. I wish it were that easy. I think she may just go after the other seat in 2010.

[jenmito]

35. The way she's being RIPPED in the media, I'm not sure she'd even win a seat in AK after her

term is up.

[yellowcanine]

36. Hard to say - she may be able to turn that around to her advantage.

And Lisa Murkowski (the person currently holding the other Alaska Senate seat) has plenty of baggage. There is still a lot of resentment over the fact that her father Frank Murkowski appointed her to the seat and this action played a role in Palin defeating him for governor. The Alaska legislature subsequently changed the law to require special elections to fill vacant Senate seats.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[ShortnFiery]

44. Lord, make a way! eom

[jenmito]

45. It's looking good for us Dems. according to Stevens' lawyer according to another thread. n/t