Alaska Primary . . .

Check out that Alaska primary. Don Young is still around to be defeated by the Democratic challenger, Mark Begich, but the House Republican primary between Don Young and Sean Parnell is still too close to call. Don Young would be a much easier opponent for Democrat Ethan Berkowitz; as a Democrat I am cheering on Don Young to pull out a victory. But as an American, I only wish there had been a way to push Sean Parnell, a superior candidate to the utterly corrupt Don Young, over the top.

I noticed that Young is winning by only. 16% of the popular vote, and that there are still some votes to be counted. Even if Young wins, at least we'll know that there is strong opposition to him from both parties in Alaska. Perhaps this can be used in future elections...?

And not necessarily because it's suddenly become more liberal-friendly as much as the GOP has become less libertarian-friendly. The basic makeup of the culture, ideology and so forth of the state hasn't changed, and isn't likely to change. It becomes a question of which party better represents their live-and-let-live values. The same is true in the Interior West, which shares a similar world view. Hence the rise of folks like Brian Schweitzer and Bill Richardson.

The highjinks of Ted Stevens, Don Young, et al. are unquestionably a factor in Alaska, but I'd argue they serve mainly to hasten the inevitable. If a real libertarian element does take root in the Democratic party, it's likely to do so in places like Alaska sooner than later.