It's official -- Mayor Mark Begich (D-AK) is running for Senate

[Blue_In_AK]

Mark Begich officially announced this morning that he is running for Ted Stevens' Senate seat...








Time to retire old grumpy butt Stevens.

[Happyhippychick]

1. Pay attention folks! These Senate races matter just as much, if not more, than POTUS.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Great News...

I was hoping he'd get in...and that coupled with a Senator NO indictment around September could make for a nice election night delight.

Kudos to the 49th state...great to see some quality candidates emerging! Now get to work and get Mark elected!!!

Cheers...

:hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

5. I'll do my best.,

although most of my time and resources at this point are going towards getting this lady, the very wonderful Diane Benson, through the primaries for the House seat. She is running again for Don Young's (R-Corruption) seat and has some stiff competition, especially from Ethan Berkowitz. I'll have no problem voting for Ethan if he wins, but I would dearly love to see Diane be the first Native American woman in the House. I think Mark's probably got the Dem. Senate nomination sewed up, so I'll get to him later during the general.

[KharmaTrain]

8. She's A Very Good Candidate

Young's future should be in an orange jumpsuit...and it sounds like the folks in Alaska are getting tired of the corruption...just seems like all these cases are taking a long time to play through the system.

I've read some very good things about Ms. Benson on MyDD and that she's on the red to blue list...I expect she'll be on my list when I send out contributions with my booosh tax bribe next month.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Trust me, she is amazing.

I've never supported a candidate as enthusiastically as I support Diane. Like the old song -- to know her is to love her. Her wisdom, grace and tenacity are badly needed down there. I call her the "Anti-Don."

ed. And the contribution would be greatly appreciated. She runs on a shoestring, although I think she's gotten more national attention and contributions than she did in 2006. But even purely grassroots she got 40% of the vote last time, and that was before all of Don's corruption issues had come to light.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. He is now a climate change supporter who wasn't before

Good news, I hope he takes the seat.

That's a fight is more important in Alaska than the presidential one.

Stevens need to go.

[uppityperson]

4. Good. What is your opinion of Begich?

Time to please finally get rid of Stevens indeed.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I like Mark.

He's quite bright, has been very active in city government since his early 20s and has been a good mayor, in my opinion. He's somewhat business-oriented, but he's always got the conservatives around here bitching about "tax-and-spend liberals," so he must be doing something right. :rofl: He would certainly be worlds better than old Ted, and I think he stands a good chance of winning since the Begich name is well-known in the state.

[Arctic Dave]

10. He has been a great mayor.

His administration has made a lot of improvements for Anchorage. Nice guy, likes to talk. The repugs hate him because of all things our mil rate went up, like the rest of country. Oh my!

[Blue_In_AK]

11. Dave, don't you think it's hilarious

the way people in Anchorage bitch about taxes when we have one of the lowest tax rates in the country? No state income tax, no sales tax, the state gives us money, and people complain. It just cracks me up.

[Arctic Dave]

12. I know. The way repugs cry over it, you would think we were

indentured servants. But then they cry to no end about the shape of the city roads, schools, etc. Geuss what, that stuff takes money to build and maintain. But whats even more ridiculous is that it goes back into the local economy when they do improvements so it actually helps with jobs. They just don't seem to get that part of it.

[NJSecularist]

6. Great news!

I really think he can steal Stevens' seat. This will be one of the most exciting races to watch in the next few months.

[L. Coyote]

13. This is an important event. I look forward to seeing some videos.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. An "unscientific" KTUU poll tonight

If the election were held today, who would you vote for, Ted Stevens or Mark Begich?


Here are the results so far.

Incumbent Ted Stevens (Republican) 29%
Challenger Mark Begich (Democrat) 71%

Of course, he IS our mayor, but that's looking good.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. The poll ended up 80% Begich, 20% Stevens by 10:00 p.m. n/t