Republicans engage in last-minute stumping

WASILLA -- U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens stopped in Wasilla Thursday to make one last effort to encourage voters to turn out and cast ballots in what he said was one of the most important elections in the nation.

Stevens spoke to a group of more than 100 at the Valley Republicans' Lincoln Forum lunch meeting at Evangelo's in Wasilla.

"I get a phone call every morning from our national people," Stevens said, noting that Alaska's U.S. Senate race is being closely watched. "It's the most important race."

Stevens said he's no stranger to close elections -- he lost an election early in his career in Congress, by a little over 1,000 votes in an election he said suffered from low voter turnout. He said people who worked on his campaign were stunned at the loss, and told him that had they known the race would be so tight, they would have called 500 to 600 people and reminded them to vote.

"All I'm asking you to do today is to do one thing -- talk to everyone you know and ask them to vote," Stevens said.

Stevens' stump speech was about more than driving up voter turnout. He was in Wasilla to support U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whom he has called -- both at the luncheon and on television and radio advertisements for her campaign -- his best Senate partner ever.

"I don't hesitate to tell her dad," Stevens joked.

Stevens said while he, U.S. Rep. Don Young and Murkowski have had disagreements, they've been able to agree to disagree on certain topics.

Stevens was asked whether it was awkward to work with a Democrat as the other team member on the U.S. Senate. For eight years, Stevens said, Sen. Mike Gravel, a Democrat, was his senatorial partner.

Although Stevens said he and Gravel had an amicable relationship, a differing opinion on the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act delayed adoption of the bill Stevens said he favored, and allowed time for another bill to be written.

Stevens reiterated that he and Gravel had a good working relationship, but others working for the state did not.

"It really isn't the senators -- the staffs fight like mad. That is the hardest part about having a divided administration," Stevens said. "And you can see it right now in the staffs directing the campaign -- it's the worst campaign I've ever seen."

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.