Sarah celebrates

August 23, 2006

BY MARK KELSEY

Frontiersman

ANCHORAGE - Declaring a mandate for change, Republican gubernatorial nominee Sarah Palin stood before a crowd of around 200 cheering supporters at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage Tuesday night.

Flanked by her family and such high-profile supporters as former Gov. Wally Hickel, maverick Republican Wayne Anthony Ross and four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser, former two-term Wasilla Mayor Palin said the big victory showed Alaskans desire change and are tired of &#8220politics as usual.”

&#8220People all over Alaska are ready for a new course, a different type of government,” Palin said. &#8220It's going to be positive. I don't want to let you down.”

At press time, with about 61 percent of the votes counted, Palin had about 51 percent of the total. Challengers John Binkley and Gov. Frank Murkowski trailed with 30 and 19 percent, respectively.

It was 9:15 when the first statewide tallies were announced to those assembled in one of the hotel ballrooms. With 180 of 439 precincts counted, Palin had garnered slightly more than 50 percent of the votes. The room erupted in whoops and applause.

Those numbers largely held for another two hours, bringing Palin about 10 percentage points more of the vote than even the most generous recent polls gave her. Palin admitted to being surprised, but grateful, considering the negative ad campaign launched against her by Murkowski and, especially, Binkley.

&#8220I'm just so thankful,” Palin said. &#8220This shows that negative campaigning doesn't work.”

State Republican Party chairman Randy Ruedrich, who poured human and financial resources of the party committee hierarchy into Binkley's campaign, faces an uncertain future with the ascendancy of Palin. It was Palin who blew the whistle on Ruedrich's ethical shortcomings in 2002, when the two served on the state Oil and Gas Conservation Committee.

Ruedrich was fined and resigned his position, but the party retained him as chair, leaving Palin - once viewed as a rising star in party ranks - on the outs with party leaders.

Palin suggested that Tuesday's results send a clear message.

&#8220(Party leaders) have got to recognize that there's a mandate for change within the party,” she said. &#8220I think there will be some voluntary change. I think (Ruedrich) will understand that people voted for change, for a new vision, for new blood for the party.”

Hickel, who served two nonconsecutive terms as governor, the most recent in the early 1990s, was much more direct.

&#8220I think (Ruedrich) should step down,” he said.

Ross, who ran for governor unsuccessfully, also addressed the spate of attack ads that tainted the final days of the campaign. He said whomever made the choice for Binkley and Murkowski to go negative should be fired.

&#8220That was a terrible decision,” Ross told the crowd in a brief address prior to Palin taking the podium. &#8220There's a lot of cleanup to come now,” he added turning to Palin, &#8220I think your first capital expenditure should be a shovel and a broom.”

In a humorous nod to some of the recent attacks on Palin, Ross joked about trying to woo Palin to run as a team with him in 2002, &#8220back when she was running her campaign (for lieutenant governor) out of the mayor's office.”

Buser, a native of Switzerland, also spoke.

The recently naturalized American touted the wonders of democracy and the power of the ballot box before assessing the results of the Tuesday vote and the potential to Alaskans from a Palin administration.

&#8220Alaska can look forward to a great and prosperous future the next four years,” he said.

Contact Mark Kelsey at 352-2268 or mark.kelsey@

frontiersman.com.