PUBLISHER'S NOTEBOOK: Alaska Politics: The Greatest Sport Going

Just when you have the roster memorized and you know the players in the competition, along comes the filing deadline. Like a last minute free agent signing in professional sports, names emerge to shake up the roster.

Grabbing statewide attention on Friday was the announcement that former U.S. Senator Mark Begich, a Democrat, along with former Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell, a Republican entered the Gubernatorial race for 2018 at the deadline. As they say in the bloody sport of mix martial arts, “LET’S GET IT ON!”

What was, in all reality, a two-man race between former State Senator Mike Dunleavy and Incumbent Governor Bill Walker has now become an intriguing four-man scrum. After the August primary only three will emerge, so first up in the metaphorical octagon is Dunleavy vs Treadwell. Dunleavy should relish the challenge. Competition only makes you stronger. His prior competition looked like Alabama football’s preconference schedule. He’s no longer playing Wofford to tune up for tougher competition. He has to face a ranked opponent in Treadwell.

Looking past the competition

Mike Dunleavy would never tell you that he looked past his Republican opponents prior to Treadwell entering the race, but he did. At an informal luncheon a couple of months ago, Dunleavy spoke about his candidacy. His focus was on the current administration and winning the Governor seat. He never spoke about his primary opponent Scott Hawkins. When I asked him what he believed were the fundamental differences between he and Hawkins he replied, “Well, I’m taller. But, seriously, Scott wants to run the State like a business. Government and Business are two very different entities. You can’t run a government like a business. You have three different bodies (executive, legislative and judicial) in government and not a board of directors.”

Treadwell understands how the State government works. For me, knowing that there was a contingent in the Republican Party not happy about the current candidates prior to the deadline and a push for Treadwell to enter, the Republican Primary just became a lot more interesting to watch.

District Senator E or The race of differing Ideaologies.

Representative George Rauscher District 9, who had filed for Senate Seat E, withdrew and filed to run for his current position in the House. District E, for all intents and purposes, comes down to incumbent Mike Shower and current Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Randall Kowalke. This will be a formidable competition. Both candidates have an independent spirit about them. Both candidates will frustrate the majority caucus which I believe valley voters love. Shower already demonstrated that in his short stint last session. Both men have a record of voting their conscience. There will be a vocal group who will talk about Kowalke being ‘a liberal’ but I haven’t seen evidence of that, and if someone wants to convince me otherwise, let’s talk. There is no favorite in this race. Both are intelligent, straight shooters and embody the Alaska spirit. This will be a race of two statesmen. It’s no secret the Republican party will favor Shower after the fiasco of filling the Senate seat that Mike Dunleavy abandoned for his gubernatorial campaign. The party’s opposition was pretty vocal about Walker’s appointment of Kowalke.

Senate Representative District 8 or The Yawner

Incumbent Mark Neuman of Big Lake faces Andy Murr of Wasilla in the Republican Primary. Neuman has been in the House since 2005. Neuman will tell it to you straight. I’m under the impression his constituents admire that about him. Murr has an uphill climb on his hands. We’ll see how he presents himself as a better solution for District 8. That goes for the Democratic Candidate James Chesbro and Libertarian Mark Fish when they get to the General. This would go down as a true shocker if any of them can unseat Neuman.

State Representative District 9 or A Free For All

Woo Hoo! We have it all here! I’ve never met Pam Goode the candidate from Delta Junction, but she’s a motivator. I asked one of her opponents why they entered the race and was told, “I didn’t want the district to go to Pam Goode.”

Early on, it looked to be a scramble to find an opponent for Goode after incumbent George Rauscher filed for Senate Seat E. Vicki Wallner of Valley Thieves social media fame entered and it appeared to be a two-woman race. Then Rauscher reconsidered and withdrew from the Senate race to run for his current seat. I hear that pressure from the party played into his decision after Mike Shower declared his candidacy for Senate Seat E. The Republican party feared a split vote between Shower and Rauscher would give candidate Kowalke an advantage. If this race wasn’t interesting enough, a late filing by former Representative Jim Colver addedto the intrigue. Tagged a RINO (Republican in name only) by many in his own party, Colver brings a component to this race that makes it one to watch. If any race gets down and dirty, this one will.

State Representative 10 or The NO Vote has no primary test

The buzz on this district for months had been that the Republican Party was looking for someone to run against incumbent David Eastman. The notorious ‘no’ voter on almost every issue looked to have a formidable opponent in the wildly popular Iditarod musher Dee Dee Jonrowe, but she decided not to run. Now he awaits the Democratic Primary to face an opponent in the General election. Patricia Faye-Brazel — who ran against Eastman in the 2016 general — and Neal Lacy will square off to see who will face Eastman. An uphill battle in a very conservative district.

State Representative 11, or Mayor vs Mayor

Current Palmer Mayor Edna Devries will square off against the previous Palmer Mayor and incumbent Delena Johnson. May the best Mayor win? I’ll be curious who individual Palmer City Council members will support. Another fun race to watch in the Primary. Winner faces lone Democratic Candidate Eileen Patterson.

State Representative 12 or Tilton’s to lose

With no Republican primary opponent incumbent Cathy Tilton will face Stephany Jeffers (undeclared) in the General Election. I don’t see much of a race here but August is a long way down the road.

State Representative 7 or Colleen Sullivan-Leonard stands alone

I guess we know who will be making the runs to the concession stands for us as we watch the other Valley seats battle it out. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard who is running unopposed, Senator David Wilson and Senator Shelley Hughes who are filling out their term, have time on their hands this election season. One thing we all can agree on the Alaska political landscape will be changed this election season. Sit back, learn about your candidates, watch them on the political girdiron and, most of all, vote.