Alaska

Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan said that he doesn’t know much about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but he doubts she’ll be able to draw in New Jersey Hillary Clinton supporters to John McCain’s ticket.

“I don’t know her well enough,” he said. “I haven’t seen much on her background, but it seems as if she’s a fundamentalist that’s out of touch with mainstream America.”

MIKE FERGUSON'S WORDS DON'T MATCH
HIS RECORD
Mike Ferguson Makes False Claims on His Record,
Claims that Taxes Will Be Center Issue Of Election

Scotch Plains, NJ -- In a Sunday Courier News article titled "Ferguson Hoping to Stand on Record," Rep. Mike Ferguson mistakenly claimed that he has stood against drilling in the Artic Wildlife Refuge for oil.

Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski lost his bid for a second term when he finished third in the Republican primary with just 19% of the vote. Until yesterday, New Jersey's Brendan Byrne held the record for the lowest vote percentage of an incumbent Governor seeking re-election in a primary.

Byrne would have lost the primary had Democratic leaders united behind a single challenger; instead, ten Democrats joined the race and Byrne was able to win the June primary with 30% of the vote. He defeated Congressman Robert Roe (23%), former State Senator Ralph DeRose (17%), Congressman James Florio (15%), former state Commissioner of Labor (in Byrne's cabinet) Joseph Hoffman (10%), State Senator Raymond Garramone (3%) and five others.

Alaska also joins New Jersey as one of a few states that have defeated both a Governor and a United States Senator in primaries. New Jersey did it in 1978 when Clifford Case lost the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, nine years after Wiliam Cahill lost the Republican gubernatorial primary. Murkowski's loss comes 26 years after U.S. Senator Mike Gravel was defeated in the Democratic primary. Ironically, Murkowski won Gravel's Senate seat in the general election that year.

Frank Murkowski gave up a safe seat in the United States Senate in 2002 to go back to Alaska to run for Governor. Four years later, independent polls have him running third in the Republican primary as he seeks re-election to a second term. Exceeding popular during his 22 years as a U.S. Senator (he won re-election in 1998 with 75% of the vote), Murkowski has found that the same voters who loved him as their Senator don't seem to like him as their Governor. A recent SurveyUSA poll has Murkowski with an upside-down 20%-78% approval rating. The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Tony Knowles, a former two-term Governor who nearly won a U.S. Senate seat in 2004 against Lisa Murkowski, who had been appointed by her father to fill his vacant seat.

Jon Corzine, who gave up his U.S. Senate to run for Governor of New Jersey in 2005, had a 59%-26% approval rating as a Senator in January 2005, and a 44%-43% approval rating in July 2006, according to Quinnipiac University polls.

At a recent discussion Congressional Candidate for the Sixth District, Leigh-Ann Bellew, when asked about the impact rising gas prices may have on family summer vacations, stated that she was "concerned that families may be faced with the difficult decision to shorten, if not entirely cancel, their travel plans due to the price of gas." Candidate Bellew pointed out that, among other things, America must decrease its reliance on foreign oil to aide in reducing gasoline prices.

She pointed to a bill recently passed by the House of Representatives, the "American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act," that would assist in achieving the goal of relief for the millions of families already buckling under the high cost of gas. However, it was also noted that the current Representative for the Sixth District, Frank Pallone, apparently is not concerned with providing that relief because he voted against the bill.

United States production of crude oil has decreased by nearly 50% over the past 20 years while Pallone has been in office. The "American-Made Energy" bill could aid in reversing that trend by providing access to an estimated 30 billion barrel oil reserve in Alaska. Accessing the reserve would help reduce the escalation of gas prices and is something the people of Alaska overwhelmingly support. However, "relief at the gas pump is hitting the partisan wall of political agendas of those like Mr. Pallone, and that hurts all Americans."

Rather than continue the current obstructionist tactics of her opponent, Bellew stated she would support a comprehensive policy that, not only decreases reliance on foreign oil and increases oil supply, but also expands research and use of alternative fuels and promotes a clean environment. She pointed out that these are not mutually exclusive alternatives. Pursuing these ends, said Bellew, "is too important to our economy and the livelihood of every American family."

The first declared candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination refused to rule out Bob Torricelli as a Vice Presidential candidate. Mike Gravel, a former U.S. Senator from Alaska, told PoliticsNH.com that he plans to campaign in New Jersey's February 26, 2008 primary, but could not identify any local supporters of his campaign. He declined several opportunities to say that he would not consider Torricelli as his running mate.

Gravel won public office in 1968, when he upset an incumbent U.S. Senator in the Democratic primary. Three years later, he made national headlines when he read 4,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers in to the Congressional Record and waged a filbuster in opposition to the draft. He lost his bid for re-election to a third term in 1980 (to the grandson of the Senator he had defeated).

Gravel's closest Garden State ties seem to be from his tenture as head of the Washington-based Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, which was founded by a group of aides to then-Congressman James Courter (Mac Carey and Dennis Teti) in Morristown in 1985; Ambassador Clifford Sobel served on the board with Gravel.

Congressman Andrews Leads U.S. House Letter Urging Revision of Tongass Logging Plan

– 80 Members of Congress Submit Public Comments to U.S. Forest Service –

Congressman Andrews Leads U.S. House Letter Urging Revision of Tongass Logging Plan

– 80 Members of Congress Submit Public Comments to U.S. Forest Service –

NOT Mike Ferguson for Congress Website Launched

Mirrors Ferguson for Congress Campaign site with Congressman's True Record

Blue 7th PAC announced today the NOT Mike Ferguson for Congress website, an effort to cut through the campaign spin and show the true record of Congressman Mike Ferguson to the voters of New Jersey's 7th District.

The site, available at http://www.fergusonforcongress.net , mirrors the look of the official Ferguson for Congress site but includes different photographs and content. All photos are undoctored, and the content is linked to source material so readers can check to see that the information is accurate.