Alaska: Future Swing State? From Nate Silver

[Blue_In_AK]

8. In actuality

Alaska was founded as a Democratic state back in 1959. In fact, Eisenhower was against statehood because he was afraid Democratic representation from AK would shift the balance in the US Senate. At the time HI was Republican. This is why the two states were admitted at roughly the same time. We sent several great democrats to Washington - Ernest Gruening, Bob Bartlett, Nick Begich, and my personal fave, Mike Gravel. We have one of the most liberal/progressive state constitutions in the country, had civil rights laws 20 years before the 1965 Civil Rights Act. Abortion was legal here before the Lower 48 and MJ has been virtually decriminalized since a court decision in 1975.

What has poisoned Alaska's politics was oil development and the arrival here of so many Texans and Oklahomans in the late '70s and early '80s. Carpetbaggers, we call them. Frankly, my hope is that with the increased development in North Dakota and other cheaper to get to oil resources in the Lower 48, maybe Exxon, BP and ConocoPhillips will give us our state back. I would happily give up my permanent fund dividend and pay state income taxes just to get them out of here.