It has been predicted that as soon as Berkowitz declared, which he did last week, he would engage pollster Moore. The methodology of the poll seems secure. But Berkowitz is running in a long primary contest that won't end until August of 2008. His other challengers have viable campaigns going. Berkowitz has bolted out of the gate this week, and is sure to bring in a lot of campaign money from outside the state. But he has stronger negatives among those who will be voting in the Dem primary than Moore's publicly released data suggests, perhaps by a telling margin.

The reason Young's voter ID is so high is that he had been in office for 18 years when Berkowitz moved to Alaska from San Francisco. When Democratic primary challenger Diane Benson was 18, and challenger Jake Metcalfe was 14, Young took his seat in the U.S. House. Every other year since 1973, Alaskans have been subjected to folksy Don Young propaganda on TV, radio, yard signs, bumper stickers and bus sideboards. He had been in office for 13 years when my daughter, who is now a senior in college, was born. He is the only national-level statewide office politician in the history of the USA to have had his message thumped out so often for so long.