The poll Markos commissioned looks good on some levels, but might be quite useless for Alaska on others.

At the beginning of October, when Ethan Berkowitz declared his candidacy, he commissioned a poll from Anchorage pollster Ivan Moore. It came up with similar results to the recent Research 2000 poll. Berkowitz's Moore poll showed him beating the two candidates against whom Ethan is running in the Democratic Party primary by what appeared to be untouchable margins. But that same pollster had showed the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial team of Tony Knowles and Ethan Berkowitz beating current Governor Sarah Palin by about 5 points.

Former Alaska Democratic Party chief Jake Metcalfe is in the AK-AL race too. He hasn't publicly released any polls. But he is getting some strong behind-the-scene support from Alaska AFL/CIO chief Vince Beltrani, who also heads IBEW in Alaska. Jake Metcalfe, though he stepped down from his position as AK Dem Chief the weekend he announced his candidacy back in early August, has retained his paid position as Chief Counsel of the IBEW.

Both candidate Berkowitz and candidate Jake Metcalfe strongly advocate the opening of the coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to big oil. Jake Metcalfe strongly supports the opening of Pebble Mine to development of the biggest mega-mine in world history in the earthquake and volcano-saddled headwaters of the Bristol Bay Sockeye salmon runs. Berkowitz hasn't given a position yet on that issue, but has supported the mining industry in the past.

The third candidate for the Democratic primary for AK-AL is Diane Benson, who challenged Don Young in 2006, coming closer to him with over 40% of the vote, than anyone had in a generation.

In 2006, the Knowles-Berkowitz team, who spent $1.1 million to Sarah Palin's $880,000 in the gubernatorial general campaign, garnered just over 97,000 votes. Diane Benson, running against Don Young for Alaska's sole U.S. House seat, received about 94,000 votes statewide, while spending $192,000 to Young's $2 million in the campaign.

Berkowitz is well-liked. So is Diane Benson. Berkowitz has only won office here in the most heavily Democratic Party-leaning district in Alaska. In the 2006 election, Benson carried parts of the state outside of Anchorage that Berkowitz and Knowles failed to carry.

Additionally, Benson has gotten the support of the Alaska Womens Caucus, and has been successful in wooing Native American concerns both inside and outside Alaska. This despite Don Young's heavy-handed threats to Native groups to not support any candidate but Young - or else.

In regard to the AK-AL US House race, I'm not terribly surprised that Markos is more attracted to a candidate like Berkowitz who is vaguely proggressive, compared to one like Benson who is very progressive. On the surface, Berkowitz, with more national monied backing seems a surer cinch for the seat. But Alaskans love mavericks, and Benson is that. Berkowitz is viewed by young progressives as "old school."

Diane Benson also published a poll - by Craciun - that shows her beating Don Young, by a slightly larger margin than Berkowitz would.

Regarding the U.S. Senate seat held by Ted Stevens, there is already a candidate - Ray Metcalfe (no relation to Jake Metcalfe). Ray is the person most responsible for bringing the corruption of Alaska Legislative politics before the public eye. He used to serve in the State Legislature, and has been writing articles and providing information about crooked deals up here for almost a generation. Most attribute his efforts to having led to the FBI/DOJ investigations, indictments, trials and convictions that are ongoing here.

Raty Metcalfe is a thorn in the side of Ted Stevens, and Ted's wayward son, Ben. But he's also a thorn in the side of Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, the subject of half of Markos's Research 2000 poll. Begich has been involved in real estate deals with one of Ted Steven's partners, Jon Rubini, and Ray Metcalfe says - I'm doing an article about Ray for Howie Klein - that if the Federal investigation turns toward property leasing and zoning change deals in Anchorage, Begich stands "a 50-50 chance of being indicted."

http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/

Ethan Berkowitz campaign site:
http://www.ethanberkowitz.com/index.php

Jake Metcalfe campaign site:
http://www.jake2008.com/welcome/index.ht ml

Diane Benson campaign site:
http://bensonforcongress.com/

Ray Metcalfe campaign site:
http://www.metcalfe4senate.com/

I once heard that there was election day irregulaities in Alaska during the 2006 election.
Any word on that?

Also I wonder if the Haye's case will ever break out into the open? Hayes is a former GOP mayor of Fairbanks.
He took a federal earmark from Sen. Stevens and spent it on his personal life and building his church. His wife has a plea agreement that doesnt include testimony against her husband. She must be agreeing to testify against somebody?

Wonder who?
Also I wonder why her husband isnt in on the plea agreement?

Will,

Former Rep. Berkowitz is a transplant from San Francisco, where he comes from a wealthy family. He came to Alaska around 1990, and has, to my knowledge, never fished commercially. He does love the outdoors - last time I saw him he was bike riding in the snow.

But he isn't the only candidate in the Democratic Primary. Nor is he the only viable one. How "good" he is in a 3-way, hard-fought primary campaign around the entire state, is yet to be seen. Look up the speeches he made last year while running in a losing contest for Lt. Governor. His grasp of local issues in Alaska's many and varied communities needs some work.