Alaska Governor appointed his own daughter as US Senator?

[El Supremo]

Sorry, I just heard this on NPR and know little about Alaska politics.

Murkowski? He was the senator and when he won the Governorship appointed his daughter Lisa to take over his seat.

WTF??? Anyway, they said he would probably loose the primary tomorrow. Lots of other issues that pissed everybody off. Naturally, they're Repukes.

[MrModerate]

1. Oh, yeah -- but she went on to win the seat in a genral in '04 . . .

So she's in 'til 2010.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Of course, we have our doubts whether she really "won"

Lots of election irregularities up here in 2004. The Alaska Democratic Party has a lawsuit pending.

[MrModerate]

6. I use the term "won" to mean . . .

"Sworn into office." I should find a better term.

[snowbear]

3. He appointed his own daughter, then the votes were manipulated...

..to ensure that she beat Tony Knowles in the '04 U.S. Senate race.

I can't even say anymore that "Diebold stole the election" because what it actually is..... is Diebold created the machines that can be manipulated to change elections.

Because the Alaska race was so completely out of whack... (over 16 Districts in Anchorage reported turnouts of well over 200%, some registering up to a 239% voter turnout!!!)...

..that Diebold Corporation was so embarrassed, they told the Republican Lt. Governor (in charge of elections) to release all of the voting data (proprietary info) to the public.

Yes -- DIEBOLD actually told the Lt. Governor that there's no way the results could be correct!!

Makes me wonder about the E-Voting Machines actually.. I mean, we can't ASSUME that every place in the nation where there's Diebolds or ESS machines, their Division of Elections are all pulling for the Republican candidates.

After what happened here.. I honestly believe the machines CAN be manipulated -- but I'm not sold that every location is poised to steal every election.

In any event.... TOMORROW night, Frank Murkowski tries to win the Republican primary in Alaska.

The results should be verrrrrrrry interesting!

[Toots]

11. But hasn't the Republican Lt Governor refused to turn over the data?

In fact I heard the first court already ruled he must turn the material over and he still refuses and it's in front of another court now. Possibly a more Republican friendly court.. I don't know any of this for a fact only heard it through the grapevine..

[Blue_In_AK]

17. If it goes to the Alaska Supreme Court, Leman is toast.

Our Supreme Court is generally quite liberal.

[Awsi Dooger]

4. Yeah, lovely Lisa

She defeated former gov Tony Knowles for the full term in 2004. Knowles led all the polls for a year, generally by 3-6 points, then she beat him by maybe 10,000 votes. I know I'll hear Diebold but Alaska is apparently a very difficult state to poll. We've polled significantly above our actual number for as long as I've been following the states closely, long before Diebold.

Frank Murkowski went on the attack in the last week or so, desperate to pull out the primary. I think he's got no shot and will come in third, but maybe it will bruise the GOP nominee a little bit, probably Sarah Palin. I saw a great description of her somewhere this weekend, that's she's attractive but she thinks that may be a political liability for some reason, so she goes out of her way to pull her hair back and wear severely tailored outfits and conservative glasses, almost to the point of a porn film librarian image: http://www.palinforgovernor.com /

On edit: I just wanted to show what she looked like, after the description. Here's the site of the once and hopefully future gov: http://www.tonyknowles.com/

[snowbear]

5. Yep....

Sarah Palin is very attractive.. much prettier in person than in those photos on her website. Especially when she lets her hair down..



She was really rockin' and rollin' in the GOP polls here, but lately.. riverboat captain and rural pilot, John Binkley --> seems to be catching up with her.

I honestly can't say which one of them will win tomorrow..

What do you think Blue?

As far as the Democratic primary.. we have two of the best candidates on the planet! Tony Knowles and Eric Croft.

Eric rocks.. but I gotta go with Tony!!

Tomorrow night is our primary!!!!

[Blue_In_AK]

8. That's a tough one between Sarah and Binkley...

Sarah's got the populist vote, but Binkley's got the machine, so we'll see. Plus, I think he may be gaining on the "experience" thing - although nobody has more experience being governor than Tony. I think we're still going to vote for Eric in the primary because he is such a progressive voice, but I'm sure Tony will win it. ... Then the REAL fun begins.

[Toots]

12. Boy Binkley sure looks a lot like Knowles doesn't he?

A younger version though...

[fuzzyball]

14. Is'nt everyone in Alaska related ??

[Blue_In_AK]

18. No, but we all know each other quite well.

[Awsi Dooger]

16. Agreed, I taped the debate and Sarah looked better than those photos

There's a front page diary on Kos right now with at least a dozen posts mentioning how hot she looks. A couple of them even say they are rooting for her for that purpose. To hell with that. Binkley appears to be the easier opponent for Knowles so I'll pull for him tonight.

[ISUGRADIA]

7. This and other issues may cause him

to come in THIRD with 20% or so, an incredibly embarassing showing for an incumbent not under inditement

[Blue_In_AK]

9. He is the second least popular governor in the country,

behind Ohio. He's lost almost all Republican support here. Most of the people who supported him in past years have coalesced behind Binkley. People should also be aware that Alaska has over 40 percent Independents, so how the general will go is anybody's guess.

[Awsi Dooger]

10. Alaska gov race debate on CSPAN now

From a few days ago. Damn, looks like I missed a big chunk of it. Hopefully it will be replayed again later tonight.

On edit: replay at 2:25 AM Eastern. I've gotta say Sarah Palin looks OK to be. I wouldn't vote for her but some other options I wouldn't turn down.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. It was in *all* the papers .....

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Yes, and she was elected to the seat afterward