Republicans’ Grip on Alaska Is Weakened

Wall Street Journal | July 24, 2008

Disenchantment With Party Haunts 2 Long-Time Stars

By JIM CARLTON
July 24, 2008; Page A5

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two Republican lawmakers have famously served Alaska’s interests in Washington for more than three decades: Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young. But there are signs that Alaskan voters this year may be ready to follow political changes taking place in the rest of the country and opt for a clean slate.

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Both men face the malaise afflicting many other Republican incumbents: voter disenchantment over the country’s stewardship under the party. Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006 and stand to lose more ground this year, with once-safe seats like these in Alaska facing serious competition. In all, Democratic strategists are seriously targeting this year as many as 11 of 23 Senate seats now held by Republicans and up for election.

Alaska is also emerging as a presidential battleground state, with polls showing Democratic candidate Barack Obama narrowly trailing Republican John McCain in a state that has leaned Republican in recent years.

Messrs. Stevens and Young have another challenge: Both lawmakers have been investigated in regard to a corruption scandal that has rocked Alaska’s statehouse. The U.S. District Court in Anchorage has convicted two state legislators on bribery and corruption charges, and indicted two more on similar charges; others, including Mr. Stevens’s son, are under investigation.

No one has charged the elder Mr. Stevens or Mr. Young, but the scandal is taking a toll on them. “It’s the constant reference to potential legal problems,” says Marc Hellenthal, an Anchorage pollster. “None of them are knockout blows, but they are all body punches.”

[Ted Stevens]

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday, Mark Begich, the 46-year-old Democratic mayor of Anchorage, leads the 84-year-old Mr. Stevens by nine percentage points, after trailing him narrowly in last month’s Rasmussen survey.

Mr. Stevens said in an interview last month that “the only poll that makes any difference is the election.”

A June 10 poll by Mr. Hellenthal’s firm showed Mr. Young trailing by 20 percentage points to Democratic challenger Ethan Berkowitz, 46, the former state House minority leader.

To reach a fall showdown, Mr. Young, 75, must first get past Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, 45, who is challenging him in the Republican primary on Aug. 26; the two are neck-and-neck in polls.

Through a spokesman, Mr. Young questioned the accuracy of the poll and said he has broad support for another term.

Mr. Parnell rode into office in 2006 on the same campaign of political overhaul that ushered Republican Gov. Sarah Palin into power. Both lawmakers ran as outsiders to the Alaskan Republican establishment and benefited from a voter backlash after a political-corruption scandal that erupted that year. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided six state-legislative offices in a probe into whether oilfield contractor VECO Corp. engaged in influence peddling. VECO’s chairman and a top lieutenant pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges.

[Don Young]

In July 2007, federal agents searched Sen. Stevens’s home in Girdwood, Alaska, where VECO had built an addition. Prosecutors were investigating whether Mr. Stevens accepted bribes or unreported gifts from VECO.

Mr. Stevens declined to comment on the case, except to say that “the time will come when this will be resolved.”

Also in July 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that federal officials were investigating Mr. Young in the same case. Justice Department officials declined to comment on whether their Alaska corruption investigation involves the two congressmen. Through a spokesman, Mr. Young declined to comment on any federal probe involving him.

Mr. Stevens’s negative rating of 37% among likely Alaska voters contrasted with Mr. Young’s 52% in Mr. Hellenthal’s June 10 poll. Mr. Stevens remains a revered figure in Alaska, having delivered it hundreds of millions in federal dollars since becoming a senator in 1968. Mr. Stevens points to his seniority in the Senate as a plus for Alaskan voters; he sits on three major committees, including Commerce, Science and Transportation. “All of my roles will be involved in what happens to Alaska in the next two or three years,” Mr. Stevens says. “A newcomer would be on the bottom of the line.”

Among the major issues Alaskan voters care about is expanding the state’s dominant oil-based economy. All the state’s major congressional candidates, for instance, support opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

Mr. Begich praises Mr. Stevens’s service but says he is increasingly ineffective in a Democratic Congress. “Seniority is important, but relationships are more important,” he says.

Mr. Young, in office since 1973, appears more vulnerable, political observers say. One reason: The popular Gov. Palin supports Mr. Parnell. Mr. Young also has drawn the ire of some Republicans elsewhere for spending on such projects as the widely reported $400 million “Bridge to Nowhere” proposed for a thinly populated part of Alaska. Ms. Palin dropped the bridge project.

Mr. Young said through a spokesman that most of the money he gets for Alaska goes toward helping people in the state, and downplayed the role of the governor in determining which way people will vote.

Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com