Tag: mark begich

And now we are at 53.

The AP called it: “Republican Dan Sullivan bested Democratic incumbent Mark Begich in Alaska’s Senate race, picking up an eighth seat for the GOP in the 2014 midterm elections, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.”  You knew this a week ago, because you were reading AOSHQDD; but the AP waited until the trends in the absentee ballots were clear.  Mark Begich is not conceding, of course, but he will start finding that people are already starting to think of him in terms of former Senator Begich.  And so it goes.

My congratulations to Senator-elect Dan Sullivan.

Moe Lane

PS: The Governor’s race remains too close to call.  Realistically, however, incumbent Governor Sean Parnell has to be considered the underdog in that one.  Ironically, his current position is not entirely unlike Begich’s in 2008…

New Dan Sullivan ad gleefully mocks Mark Begich’s pathetic snowmobile prowess. #aksen

Stuff just got real in the Alaska Senate race.

Continue reading New Dan Sullivan ad gleefully mocks Mark Begich’s pathetic snowmobile prowess. #aksen

Mark Begich: one of the 97%. Also, poised to lose in Alaska, at this point.

Actually, based on net worth the man’s almost certainly not part of the Occupy movement’s (remember them*?) vaunted 99%, but that number represents something much more relevant:

… 97%. That’s the amount of time Mr. Begich voted with Obama priorities—from ObamaCare to the stimulus to the president’s nominees. Another key number is zero. That’s how many times in his six years he sponsored an amendment that the Senate voted on. The other word you hear from fired-up locals is “endless”—as in the Obama administration’s nonstop assaults on Alaskan mining and drilling, which Mr. Begich has proved incapable of halting.

Continue reading Mark Begich: one of the 97%. Also, poised to lose in Alaska, at this point.

Sen. Mark Begich (D, Alaska) pays female staffers 71% of what he pays male ones.

Last month it came out that Democratic Senator Mark Begich – who made a big splash pounding the table and shouting about gender pay inequality – doesn’t practice what he preaches. He apparently doesn’t even try.

“Alaska women make just 74 cents on the dollar compared to Alaska men,” wrote Begich in an email to supporters this week. “And anyone who wants to tell Alaska women that they’re not working hard enough should be ready to find out just how tough Alaska women are.”

The average female salary in Begich’s office is a staggering $23,504 less than the average male salary. Women working for Begich are paid just 71 cents for each dollar paid to men, even less than the statewide statistic used by the senator in his email.

Continue reading Sen. Mark Begich (D, Alaska) pays female staffers 71% of what he pays male ones.

Mark Begich, carpetbagger.

Hey, I’m just following the same rules that Begich stalking horse Put America First PAC is trying to implement: “A Super PAC in support of Sen. Mark Begich (D., Alaska) is attacking his Republican opponent for having a home out of Alaska despite the fact that Begich himself owns a home in Washington, D.C.” Essentially, one of the Republican candidates (Dan Sullivan) bought a house in the DC area while Sullivan was in DC, serving his country in both a military and civilian capacity.  Which is exactly what Begich is currently doing, except of course that Mark Begich has never actually served in the military (not that that should matter).

I know, I know: it’s absurd to expect people to commute from Alaska to DC.  Which is not stopping from the Super PAC from making the smear; and, of course, candidates do not coordinate with Super PACs*. But there is nothing stopping Mark Begich from making the following statement:

It has come to my attention that there have been questions raised about one of my opponent’s places of residence.  Serving the public while being from Alaska provides unique challenges: we can’t just hop back to Juneau or Anchorage every weekend, much as we’d like to.  So Dan Sullivan did what I did: he bought a house while in active government service.  Anyone who wants to make an issue of this does not speak for me, and I will not have my good name associated with such tactics.

Continue reading Mark Begich, carpetbagger.

Mark Begich desperately wants you to know that he loathes @BarackObama now. #obamacare

I included that hash-tag to remind you that Mark Begich, of course, is a brazen hypocrite.

While most Democrats have been quietly avoiding answering whether they would publicly campaign with President Obama, Alaska’s Mark Begich is forcefully rejecting the idea. “I don’t need him campaigning for me — I need him to change some of his policies,” the Alaska senator told CNN following the State of the Union address.

Funny thing about that: if Mark Begich had shown some moral courage on Obamacare, we wouldn’t be watching cancer patients lose their doctors because of Obama’s – and Begich’s – signature legislation. I bring this up not to engender a sense of shame in Mark Begich, but to engender a milder one in those Alaskans who made the regrettable mistake of voting for the man in 2008.  Thankfully, some mistakes can be rectified.

Moe Lane

See, this is what I want from the #NRSC. And require. #obamacare #begich

Nothing about the primaries; nothing to tick off the grassroots or the Establishment – or your Aunt Sadie, for all I know. Just a nice, simple shackling of Democratic Senators to President Barack Obama and a cheery wave as the anchor chain starts unspooling into the deep water.

And lo! Easily embeddable, all across the Internet. This is an excellent use of the NRSC’s resources: when people yell at them in comments anyway, at least try to mention that so that they’ll understand to do more of the things that you like.

Moe Lane

PS: It is showing up on my Firefox just fine; but in case somebody is having issues, here’s the direct link.

PPP: Oh, crud, Mark Begich is in trouble, isn’t he?

They bury the heck out of that lede by first throwing up a lot of ink about Sarah Palin, who I sincerely doubt will end up running for Senate next year.  After doing that, PPP gives its readership the bad (to them) news:

The best Republican hope for this seat is Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell and the good news for the GOP is that if Palin sits it out he, and not 2010 nominee Joe Miller, is the next choice of the party base. In a three way primary Treadwell gets 33% to 25% for Sullivan and 24% for Miller. And in a head to head with Miller, Treadwell leads 53/30. Even among Republican primary voters Miller has a dreadful 26/53 favorability rating.

Treadwell still trails Begich, but only by a 44/40 margin. That’s narrowed from 47/39 on our February poll. Treadwell has a +6 favorability rating at 35/29 and has room to grow with 36% of voters still not knowing enough about him to have formed an opinion.

Continue reading PPP: Oh, crud, Mark Begich is in trouble, isn’t he?

Alaska’s LT GOV Mead Treadwell to run for Senate in 2014.

Well, this should be interesting:

Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R) announced Tuesday that he will officially challenge Sen. Mark Begich (D) in 2014, transitioning from an exploratory committee to a full-fledged campaign.

“This intense exploratory effort has convinced me that I have the support necessary to build a winning campaign,” Treadwell said on his Web site. “Today I’m taking the next step by announcing that I will not seek re-election as Alaska’s lieutenant governor and have begun to file documents required as a candidate for the United States Senate in 2014.”

(More via Roll Call) Lt. Governor is a good get; Treadwell was elected in 2010 and Sean Parnell isn’t going anywhere, any time soon, so this is a good lateral move for the Lt. Governor.

Continue reading Alaska’s LT GOV Mead Treadwell to run for Senate in 2014.